Carmichael Hunt - Implications?

[Vader]

He has never played AFL before actually champ.

AFL, no. Australian Rules football, yes.

Mind you, the Dimwitriou and his cronies would have you believe that they're one and the same thing, so there is a (weak) argument that he played AFL as a schoolboy.

 

[gostk86]

folau would be a awful afl player..he can jump has no pace and he couldnt take the amount of running involved in afl

 

[Vader]

Article on AFL website quotes Goodes as saying that Inglis is the next player the AFL should be targeting.

 

[aneale]

Re: Karmichael Hunt - Implications?

Firstly, he was keen to remain a Queenslander. How many South Aussies play Rugby League or Union at an elite level? None. Come to think of it, there aren't even any Victorians in the NRL - despite the presence of the Melbourne Storm for well over a decade.

Brock James, we can technically claim him (born in Vic), used to work with his old man and met his brother a few times, all well known in SARU circles. Brock played U21 for Australia, played for QLD Reds, Western Force and now plays for ASM Clermont Auvergne in France since 06. But he's smallish, a FH.

 

[sworc]

And a bloody good one at that, what better way to get the NRL followers to watch and then potentially follow the new GC side than to poach one an NRL star.



Don't dismiss Hunt's AFL ability, played AFL right up till he was 14 and according to one of my mates who went to the same school as him, was selected for the QLD schoolboys AFL side, Kevin Sheehan has also come out and said that he was identified as an elite junior AFL talent, but at the time the AFL didn't have the pathways to develop him and hence he was lost to RL.

As for your argument about this being an insult to those whose goal was always to become an AFL footballer, how naive can you get? What do you think this is, under 10's where everyone gets 3 quarters, so that everyone gets a fair go? This is elite level sport, it isn't fair, teams are there to win, they're not a charity. Unfortunately some people are naturally more talented and hence will get a go ahead of others who may have worked a hell of a lot harder. Just look at all the international recruits on lists compared to 10 years ago, look at us with Kurt Tippett who had less than 50 Aussie Rules games total before he was drafted, or Ricky Henderson who we converted from basketball.

Elite sport is not fair.

I stand corrected he, may have some football credentials.

No I am not naive. I understand that elite sport is cut throat. My point was not to say he should not get an afl gig. More to the point is how a rookie listed player can command a huge pay. It comes down to marketing. It just seems a convenient concession to try and get rugby supporters interest in the GC team. Personally I think this will backfire. The rescources would have been better put to provide those development pathways in Qld thus avoiding the same problems that Hunt had at 14.
Why do I believe it is an insult to other rookies. Well their talent would have been identified as elite also. They will be rookie listed with Hunt with the same AFL ability and expected to do the same for a ridiculous amount less.
I have no problem with picking up players from other sports. Ala Kurt Tippet he is a potential champion and one of my favourites. How much is he getting paid at the moment as a full time player compared to what Hunt will get. At this stage no one even knows if he will even play a game. Over the past 50 years I have lived in Qld for extended periods I played Aussie Rules there in the 70s when the gabba still had a Dog Track running around it.. One thing i know, Queenslanders love their rugby it will take more than a cheap parlor trick to win them over.

 

[twentydollarnote]

apparently any club can pick a guy up who hasnt played footy for 3 years and they dont go through the salary cap or the draft? We should be doing this asap!

 

[RoosterLad]

Who should we sign?

 

[Vader]

apparently any club can pick a guy up who hasnt played footy for 3 years and they dont go through the salary cap or the draft? We should be doing this asap!

Yes. Sydney did it with Mike Pyke. Collingwood did it with Keefe.

Find someone worth signing and I'm sure the club would be interested....

 

[harry32]

Everybody has obviously heard the news about Karmichael Hunt switching codes; a massive coup for both GCoast and the AFL itself, and one which could potentially have wide ramifications.

There have been quite a few Union guys over the years who have been discussed as potential AFL Footballers; Wingers and Full-Backs for the most part, and with Hunt's move, will it trigger a number of other players to consider a move - or AFL Clubs to pursue them?

With the compromised draft as well as the addition of the two new teams meaning the draft and talent pool is going to start thinning out a bit - should we be looking to poach either existing or young/upcoming Union/League players; roll the dice that somebody like Drew Mitchell, Quaid Cooper or Adam Ashley-Cooper could be a potential AFL Star?

I don't see much of a future for rugby league or union players in ours game. There seems to be less than a 50% success rate for league players going to union, so I would suspect that even less league players will turn into decent AFL players. Matt Rogers, Lote Tuiqiri, Timana Tahu and Wendel Sailor have all converted to RU, more or less unsuccessfuly. The only decent converts are Ryan Cross (who was an RU Australian schoolboys representative), Berrick Barnes (who also played schoolboys rugby), and that lock from the all blacks who used to play for the broncos. I recon most NRL players wouldn't have the kicking or catching skills to play AFL, so this is probably gonna be a one off type thing.

 

[raboyle]

I'm just waiting in anticipation to hear the commentary of Collingwood v Gold Coast game.

Cox to Goldsack to Dick who's been smothered by Mike Hunt

Mike Hunt is getting touches left right and centre.....

Watch out everyone... Mike Hunt's coming at ya!

Banners around Carrara -- "WE CAME TO SEE MIKE HUNT!"

 

[Stiffy_18]

Who will be the first person to shorten his name while commentating???


[youtube]9YGgjDTG88w[/youtube]

Ha ha ha!

 

[Thylacinus]

AFL, no. Australian Rules football, yes.

Mind you, the Dimwitriou and his cronies would have you believe that they're one and the same thing, so there is a (weak) argument that he played AFL as a schoolboy.

Also in South East Queensland Australian Rules football is called AFL. Most people do not make a distinction in general conversation.

 

[Crow-mo]

I'm with you CG.

I'd love to have a player of Liam Jurrah's natural talent at the Crows - he's a pleasure to watch.

Further to that there would be many Liam Jurrah's around - the difficulty is in finding ones like Liam who genuinely want to make it at AFL level.

As for this great coup of getting Carmichael Hunt to switch codes, how long will it be seen as that if he turns out to be a dud Aussie rules player?? IMO there's no guarantees there.

I wouldn't be getting too excited about seeing wholesale conversions from rugby to AFL - it won't happen.

yup

 

[Vader]

Also in South East Queensland Australian Rules football is called AFL. Most people do not make a distinction in general conversation.

Sadly, Dimwitriou and his cronies appear to be winning the war.

 

[gostk86]

Article on AFL website quotes Goodes as saying that Inglis is the next player the AFL should be targeting.

Greg Inglis for the West Sydney team would be a mistake..

no doubt though WS18 will go for Jaryd Hayne

 

[Mismatched]

The first is the front rower - these are generally man mountains, 6 foot+ of solid muscle & bone, usually with very little in the way of grey matter between their ears. These guys go in for brain surgery and the surgeon charges them a search fee. Their role is simple - they are human battering rams, charged with gaining ground by running headlong directly into the line of oncoming opponents. The odds of one of these monoliths succeeding at AFL are slim to non-existent.

You forgot fat I worked at an NRL club for a while last year, I can assure you there's more there than just muscle and bone, these guys aren't exactly the elite athletes AFL footballers are.

I stand corrected he, may have some football credentials.

No I am not naive. I understand that elite sport is cut throat. My point was not to say he should not get an afl gig. More to the point is how a rookie listed player can command a huge pay. It comes down to marketing. It just seems a convenient concession to try and get rugby supporters interest in the GC team. Personally I think this will backfire. The rescources would have been better put to provide those development pathways in Qld thus avoiding the same problems that Hunt had at 14.
Why do I believe it is an insult to other rookies. Well their talent would have been identified as elite also. They will be rookie listed with Hunt with the same AFL ability and expected to do the same for a ridiculous amount less.
I have no problem with picking up players from other sports. Ala Kurt Tippet he is a potential champion and one of my favourites. How much is he getting paid at the moment as a full time player compared to what Hunt will get. At this stage no one even knows if he will even play a game. Over the past 50 years I have lived in Qld for extended periods I played Aussie Rules there in the 70s when the gabba still had a Dog Track running around it.. One thing i know, Queenslanders love their rugby it will take more than a cheap parlor trick to win them over.

I can certainly understand your argument and I agree that its all about marketing. However having myself lived up on the Coast for 2 and a bit years recently and seen the amount of media and otherwise attention NRL players/sides got, to have one of their stars even line up in a preseason game will be worth the money, in terms of the amount of media exposure the new side will get.

On-field, Hunt may not amount to much, but I feel off-field in terms of media-exposure and membership etc, he will more than pay them back. Similar to the way Richmond would likely be labeling their recruitment of Cousins as a success, not because he's led them to onfield success, but because they gained 15,000 new members or something, as well as plenty of media exposure.

Hunt isn't going to turn the entire South-East of Queensland into an AFL mad zone, but I think he will at the very least increase the interest of many NRL fans, I know if say Jonathon Brown decided to up and play NRL, I'd probably pay a bit more attention to the sport. The more people GCFC can get interested in their side the better

Also in South East Queensland Australian Rules football is called AFL. Most people do not make a distinction in general conversation.

Yes, unfortunately old habits die hard Whilst up in Queensland you can't say footy, because it could legitimately mean 4 different sports, so you have League, Union, Soccer and AFL, with AFL just being far less hassle to say in general conversation than Aussie Rules.

 

[Asty]

I think it would be cool if the Club decided to have a look into the Liam Jurrah's of Australia.

I'd rather that than Irish and potential rugby recruits. But I guess if someone is good enough either way their background shouldn't matter much.

I think a lot of clubs would look at the Liam Jurrahs but there is some risk involved when you brink someone to the city from a very remote location where they often end up missing their community.

The advantage of the Karmichael Hunts and the Irish is that they can be added to the international rookie list - you can take a punt with out it affecting your actual playing list in any real negative manner.