World Footy News

New Zealand born Gold Coast Football Club recruit Karmichael Hunt fully expects his transition to AFL to be tough and a lot of hard work but is ready for the challenge.

Hunt was raised in Australia but has very limited Australian Rules experience. He has played Rugby League and Rugby Union at an elite level, and spent his first day at the Club meeting the playing group and staff and undergoing testing in preparation for his first training session scheduled for Wednesday morning.

“I understand the challenge. My goal is about learning this year, doing the work to improve my skills on and off the track and having a positive impact on the young group at the Club,” he said.

“This is an exciting time for me and for the Gold Coast Football Club. I don’t expect to be a strong contributor on the field immediately. I hope to be judged over the long term.”

GCFC Senior Coach Guy McKenna said while Hunt’s background is different to the rest of his talented young squad the approach to getting him ready is like everyone else on his playing list.

“They all need something different to be ready for AFL football in 2011. And like every other player he will play a few games and then be rested. We don’t expect him to play this week but we will get him into the action as soon as possible so we can assess his strengths and weaknesses and begin the process to prepare him for Round 1 next year,” he said.

“He played AFL in high school so clearly his skills will be a bit rusty. I’m not expecting a best on ground performance. What we are looking for is attitude, application and effort.

“As an elite athlete he knows what it takes to be successful and the hard work required to get there. That hard work will happen, not on the field in the next few weeks, but in the gym, on the track and in the classroom when no-one else is watching.

“It’s an exciting prospect and something our fans, members and the sporting world will be able to watch and come on the journey with us.”

GCFC CEO Travis Auld welcomed Hunt to the club and assured fans GCFC was prepared to be innovative and different in the way it would approach the game on and off the field.

“We are a new sporting club that is entering a competition that is tough and unforgiving. We operate in a competitive market that will judge us on our performance and our ability to excite our fans,” he said.

“We promised to create an exciting sporting club for the Gold Coast and it is definitely an exciting proposition to follow Karmichael’s progress as we prepare for the AFL competition in 2011.”