Karmichael Hunt

[quicksilver2008]

I dont know why he is playing in a defensive position anyway because he is clearly not defensive minded. Fowards have been working him over. They would be better off playing him on the ball and telling him to go and get the ball use his speed and evasive skill and run with it then expect him to anticipate forward leads and spoil all the time. When your team is getting pumped by 100 and your backs arent getting possessions and making 15 in dreamteam (yes i did have him on my team embressingly ) then clearly theres something wrong.

 

[Father Jack]

He's done everything asked of him, he's been invaluable in the publicity stakes and he is coming along quite nicely as a footy player. He is doing something unique and deserves more than five bloody games before being written off. What do you realistically expect of him?

 

[NTRabbit]

He's also played out of position recently - no Coad and no Bock has meant that he has been forced to go to the number one forward instead of playing on the number 3 or floating in support.

It's just a little bit harder, and the opponent is only a little bit taller - he's giving away 10cm to the average full forward.

 

[Ron The Bear]

He's already earnt the money

Debatable.

 

[Bazzar]

Darcy on One Week at a Time was full of his praise and said defensively with all the pressure acts, 1%ers etc has ticked all the boxes has been excellent, with the main thing to work on is gaining the confidence to kick more as he relies to heavy on handball. The others agreed and all said they cant understand his critics.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Better than Pyke at the same stage. Pyke is now a genuine AFL standard ruckman, and is still improving. Hunt was more successful in his previous sport than Pyke.

Has Hunt ever scored a try against the All Blacks?

 

[Jentleman Geff]

Wake up people, he's been shocking. If his name wasn't Karmichael Hunt and earning a squillion dollars, he'd be playing in the QFL. He'll never make a top level AFL player and therefore not earning the money he's being paid.

As for not being beaten one-on-one, he's a defender, when does he ever play one-on-one? He gets one kick a game and everyone thinks he's doing well

Surprised it took you so long to come into this thread to have a whinge.

He's better than Josh Fraser, a number one draft pick.

 

[CF]

Surprised it took you so long to come into this thread to have a whinge.

He's better than Josh Fraser, a number one draft pick.

ha ha pwned

 

[Sunny_]

Wow. I checked this thread expecting it to be full of replies saying how pathetic Hunt is. Imagine my surprise when I see it's quite the opposite.

I think people look at it in different ways. Do you look at him as a million-dollar player? Or do you look at him as a 4 game player? I'm inclined to think the latter, simply because that's what he is. Expecting him to play brilliantly is a bit much.

I can agree that while he doesn't rake up the possessions, that's not really his job. In a lot of his games, I think he's shut down his man pretty well. Bar some circumstances, of course. Hunt still has some trouble reading the flight of the ball and is still learning the over the head contests, but I think he's getting better every week. Where he really excels is when the ball is on the ground. Arguably because this is what he's got experience in. He can scoop it up and get it out very quickly. He charges and dives at the ball without fear, again, probably because he's used to jumping at it in the NRL. Not afraid of the bodies that may stop him, since he's used to running into huge bodies at full force.

I wouldn't mind seeing how he goes a little further up forward as well. He's got pace, and he can kick really well. But until some other defenders come in, he'll be down the back. Drop him? No. There are players I'd much rather drop first. Hunt has solidified his spot down there I think.

 

[mcgarnacle]

more often than not, he loses his feet. you watch him try and spoil and he usually lands on his arse. cardinal sin in australian rules football. if you're off your feet, you're generally out of the play.

 

[flintandtas]

Debatable.

Only if you live in Melbourne .... living in Sydney, I can tell you the extra interest he's generated in the game has been enormous.

Well, even if it turns a few sorry souls here away from rugby its worth it

 

[Cynic]

Wake up people, he's been shocking. If his name wasn't Karmichael Hunt and earning a squillion dollars, he'd be playing in the QFL. He'll never make a top level AFL player and therefore not earning the money he's being paid.

As for not being beaten one-on-one, he's a defender, when does he ever play one-on-one? He gets one kick a game and everyone thinks he's doing well

Jesus did he give one to your woman? Every post of yours I see seems to be bad mouthing Hunt.

He is a one-on-one defender and he is doing better than a lot of other GC players and does not deserve to be dropped.

Stop taking into consideration his wage, it's a sunk cost, it's not coming back.

 

[pantskyle]

Debatable.

No it isn't. First month alone would have generated enough publicity to pay for his full contract.

 

[Barkly St End]

I'm surprised by all the love being shown for Hunt.

I understand the context, and the fact that he brings some muscle to a young, weak Suns outfit, and he certainly has a dig, but honestly, at times he has looked absolutely hopeless.

He leaks goals, lots of them, there's no other way to say it.

But I agree that he might become serviceable after two or three years if he continues working hard. I think he has a pretty good attitude.

 

[seanoff]

they highlighted a piece of play on fox (can't remember if it was on the couch or afl insider.) and ablett was giving him some advice and they were babbling about something. he had turned over a handball

saw it live sunday, with ABC radio on. Rama and Aussie Jones were both of the opinion that he should never have got the ball as he was sold into huge amount of trouble.

and no, he hasn't been terrible.

 

[Pessimistic]

Only if you live in Melbourne .... living in Sydney, I can tell you the extra interest he's generated in the game has been enormous.

Well, even if it turns a few sorry souls here away from rugby its worth it

This is a serious question - how much does that backfire if a champion at one sport becomes an also ran at another ?

If people are switching because they are fans of him personally - they would be disappointed surely

If they come along because of the publicity - how good is that ?

How much grassroots exposure in schools could the AFL have got for the salary.

This is not to disrespect hunt or his efforts - surely he could switch back and become an NRL star very quickly - its just the concept I'm questioning

 

[pazza]

I would have thought he is getting better through experience. Did alright on an in-form Crameri on Sunday. Probably gets it a bit easier this week, as there is no real match-up in the Brisbane forward line for him.

 

[The Gtrain]

When the average points scored against a side is 150 , i don't think dropping one player is going to make a difference. I don't think he can get worse.

Was he any good at rugby, in winning sides etc? How does work for his mental aspect of the game, getting pumped every week?

After WC lost it in 2008 you could see our guys knew we would get done every week, has taken 3 yrs to get out of that slump and show some ticker.

 

[fddf]

Agree with the people saying he isn't doing too badly. He will take some time to hone his skills but he is doing reasonably well in contested situations. Obviously worth 1/5th of his contract but he isn't getting that coin for his ability and everyone knows that.

 

[cos789]

This is a serious question - how much does that backfire if a champion at one sport becomes an also ran at another ?

If KH stars as an AFL player that would be seen as an immense benefit .
There are hundreds of AFL players that aren't stars . Do we call them failures ? No ! Just playing AFL is a great achievement .

If people are switching because they are fans of him personally - they would be disappointed surely

I doubt very few supporters of rl are switching codes .
That was never the idea . And why would they be disappointed ?
The idea is to promote GC and GWS ,which they have successfully .

If they come along because of the publicity - how good is that ?

You said it ! How good is that - if people do come because of him .
You are suggesting people get disappointed .Well we all like it it if our stars fired all the time and won the game for us .It doesn't happen .
They'd be more likely to be disappointed in the umpiring .

How much grassroots exposure in schools could the AFL have got for the salary.

You've nailed it here . Hunt are Folau have already have already been immense bang for buck .All of a sudden it's OK to play "AFL" .It really compliments earlier investments in grassroots .

 

[Trjn]

For a first year player, he's doing alright. The biggest issues he has is that he lacks 360 awareness and doesn't always put in a second effort at contests. His body is still closer to rugby form than AFL form, which probably doesn't help much either.

All of that can be corrected in time, although I have doubts that he will ever be a true superstar of the game.

 

[flintandtas]

This is a serious question - how much does that backfire if a champion at one sport becomes an also ran at another ?

If people are switching because they are fans of him personally - they would be disappointed surely

If they come along because of the publicity - how good is that ?

How much grassroots exposure in schools could the AFL have got for the salary.

This is not to disrespect hunt or his efforts - surely he could switch back and become an NRL star very quickly - its just the concept I'm questioning

If it brings people to the game, or gets them to watch matches on tv, hopefully they'll switch because they find they enjoy the product, not because they are fans of Carmichael Hunt or not ... I doubt any existing fans will suddenly quit supporting the game if Hunt fails.

Saw it '96, when channel 7 jumped on the swans bandwagon, the number of people it brought to the game was enormous, many of them had never seen a game till then, but since have become rabid fans and never miss a game after that.

And, the amount of money they spent on Hunt is really peanuts when you look at the big picture ... it just seems a lot because it is all going to the one player.

And yeah, I think Hunt is doing ok, he's definitely not GC's worst player, and given the number of skinny kids in the side, he actually plays an important role that not many people in their squad could cover. Give him some time to adjust to the game and then judge him after that.

 

[Bomber Bears]

When the average points scored against a side is 150 , i don't think dropping one player is going to make a difference. I don't think he can get worse.

Was he any good at rugby, in winning sides etc? How does work for his mental aspect of the game, getting pumped every week?
After WC lost it in 2008 you could see our guys knew we would get done every week, has taken 3 yrs to get out of that slump and show some ticker.

Above average (I guess) but never a great player (IMO) in rugby league. Was a part of a Brisbane team that didnt miss the finals, including one premiership, and apart of the best Queensland team probably of all time, but especially in the Qld side he was hardly an integral part of their success.

But no, he's never really had a period of being in a genuinely shithouse side.

 

[Face_Plain]

He's been playing the game about 12 months and is forced to match up on people much bigger than him in a team that gets towelled up weekly.

Considering the circumstances he is coming along very nicely. Tackling, spoiling is very good. More importantly, he is giving it a genuine crack. Hunt isn't just turning up for his pay check every week. Contrast this with Fraser, a player who somehow got to 200 games yet has a quarter of Hunt's heart.

 

[thedaz47]

We understand the concept, but question the worth of the charisma or magic or whatever it is he brings with him. Surely after half a dozen nondescript performances, the curiosity factor has waned.

You wouldn't be saying that if you lived in Queensland.

People need to understand that Karmichael's wages aren't all paid for by the Suns, nor Israel's by GWS, nor would GI's had he gone to Essendon. Until you live in a rugby league state, you'll never appreciate just how much of a bargain Karmichael was, both for his club who get a dour stopping defender with a good body size for next to nothing, and for the AFL who have generated interest in Queensland not seen since the Threepeat.