Biarritz’s centre Karmichael Hunt runs to score during the European H-Cup rugby union final match Biarritz vs. Toulouse.
The Queensland Reds will on Friday night unveil James O’Connor and Karmichael Hunt as their blue-chip recruits for 2015.
Rugby’s worst-kept secrets will be revealed together at the Reds’ Gala Ball at the Brisbane Convention Centre, but diehard fans will be hoping for more.
Although O’Connor and Hunt, neither of whom will be in attendance, represent the franchise’s biggest recruitment announcement since Super Rugby kicked off in 1996, Queensland can’t fix the problems that plagued them this season with two outside backs.
Karmichael Hunt and Israel Folau made national headlines when they defected from the NRL to AFL in 2009 and 2010 respectively.
Folau finished a difficult, though lucrative, stint in the AFL in 2012 and is now one of rugby union’s top draw cards. Hunt, meanwhile, is poised to join him in the 15-man code with reports linking him to the Queensland Reds in 2015.
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Former Brisbane Broncos NRL star Hunt looks set to play fullback after the Reds cleared out rising No.15s Aidan Toua and Jonah Placid in June.
While he only has one season of French rugby at Biarritz under his belt as a professional, the 27-year-old did play at schoolboy level where he represented Queensland with Horwill in 2002.
“He was a talent then,” Horwill said. “He’s a hard-worker in the way he goes about things with everything you hear so I don’t think there’s anything stopping him (from being a success).”
We take a look at Hunt’s three-code journey as he prepares to return to the code in which he excelled at Brisbane GPS high school, Churchie.
Rugby League
Hunt was one of rugby league’s brightest lights at the time of his defection to the AFL. The former Dally M rookie of the year had scored 53 tries from 125 games for the Broncos and, in the process, had become the youngest player in premiership history to reach 100 games.
Hunt was a pivotal member of the Broncos’ grand final winning team in 2006, starting the grand final on the wing at the tender age of 19.
That same season, he made his State of Origin debut for Queensland and earned his first Test cap for the Kangaroos (having rebuffed approaches from his country of birth, New Zealand). He played 10 Origin encounters and 11 Tests, including the 2008 World Cup.
From the centres, to the halves, to fullback, to wing, Hunt was an incredibly versatile player blessed with pace and deft ball-handling skills. Still aged just 27, NRL scouts are hoping Hunt may have one more code defection left in him before his career is out.
Rugby Union
Hunt headed to Europe for a short stint prior to embarking on his AFL career. His time in the 15-man code began in the unlikely setting of Belgium as part of a French Barbarians side in 2009 prior to linking with Biarritz Olympique in France’s Top 14 competition.
It proved an eventful sojourn. Despite having never previously played rugby, Hunt fitted in seamlessly during his 15-game stint as Biarritz advanced to the Heineken Cup final following victories over Munster and Ospreys.
Hunt, starting at inside centre, scored the only try of the final before almost 80,000 fans at Stade de France. But he could not save Biarritz from a 21-19 defeat to champions Toulouse.
Hunt, who represented Queensland schoolboys as a junior, is poised to join James O’Connor in a revamped Reds’ backline next season. The improved fitness, kicking and catching skills from his AFL stint will presumably serve him well.
AFL
Hunt stunned the rugby league community when he announced he had signed a three-year $3 million contract with the fledgling Gold Coast Suns. Critics slammed the move as a PR-stunt as the AFL looked to establish a foothold on the Gold Coast, but Hunt’s first season exceeded most expectations.
He started at centre half-back in the Suns’ debut game in round two of the 2011 season and established himself as a solid defensive presence.
Hunt evolved from a defender to a midfielder over his first two seasons, highlighted by an after-the-siren goal against Richmond in round 16 in 2012 that ended Gold Coast’s horrendous 14-game losing streak.
While fellow code-jumper Folau struggled in the AFL and switched to rugby, Hunt opted to remain with AFL and signed a new two-year deal with the Suns at the end of 2012.
Hamstring and calf injuries restricted him to just nine games in 2013, however, and pundits have suggested he may no longer be an automatic senior selection in 2014 against the likes of Dion Prestia, Jaeger O’Meara, Jarrod Harbrow and Danny Stanley in the midfield.
Hunt has kicked six goals across 44 senior games for the Suns.