Another NRL player recruited by the AFL?

AndyRoo Because this thread refers to both codes i thought i would chance my arm here, but thanks for the heads up, you may well be right.

I reckon Hunt is a closet Union man. Once a Kiwi always a Kiwi. Next he will be lining up in the Haka chorus line admidst all that All Black splendour; you heard it here first.

I like the good handballs though, stops the game getting clogged up and is much better than the kick to a guy in space who then marks it for TV enjoyment purposes because it doesn't slow the game down at all. But such discussion should be held on the AFL tab.... your inviting trouble :)

He never watched NRL anyway so he's consistent. From memory he's an NBA fan.

As an avid Aust Footy and Saints supporter, i thought the GF was an appauling spectacle and not because we lost! If I had never before seen a game of Aust Footy before this I would be unlikely to ever subject myself to another. The contest was indeed a close and intense affair, especially if you were a Geelong or St Kilda devotee however the game did not produce any of the spectacle synonomous to the code. I have to say that many of the games cliched skills need to urgently be re kindled. These include the 'speccy' which is ironically still used in the marketing of the national game, yet you would be hard pressed to see one decent high grab in a season of footy these days. I also like the idea of less players coming off the bench in order to slow the game down a bit, which would encourage some of the old style play without turning the clock back totally. I absolutely despair at this flooding and kicking backwards trend and often think that the 'AFL' could well be re named the AHL (Aust Handball League), given the amount of handballs in any given match and even these are dubiously named. What do others think?

To be fair, Hunt has said before he doesn't really watch NRL when he isn't playing. I think he's just not in to watching sport.

You should send a letter to Peter Fitzsimons then :) From http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/can-they-do-that-they-can-do-that/2009/10/02/1254418712352.html?page=4 Karmichael Hunt, when asked what he thought about the AFL grand final between Geelong and St Kilda, said: ''I watched a bit but then I fell asleep.'' This bloke is meant to be converting the marginal masses to AFL?

I am not racist but I would want the lot of them to be NSW boys ;) But more realistically whatever amount hey can viably play. I would really want the team for egample to take a 100 gamer NSW lad over a possible 250 game Victorian in the draft. The AFL with Brisbane and Sydney are locked into teams that have to try to make the top 8 every year and have to be successful on the field. Replicating that swans culture is a waste of money. By having a lot of NSW lads after they should be able to afford having a few bad years. I would consider it pretty bad form to bag out what would be basically a NSW rep team rather than a franchise. It’s just a shame they can’t call them the Sydney Blues. The AFL are very good at the Australian style marketing, playing up players origins and grass roots interactions. Give them a team with real Sydney players who went to school in NSW and they will actually have some firepower in NSW. Having a team of NSW boys might not be very successful at first but it would be a massive point of difference between them and the Swans. I think a lot of fans would buy into their success and I know the Brisbane public would be very jealous (once their succesful) of NSW having basically a state team in the AFL :)

I didn't think I was taking a moral highground - - - just pointing out a fact and I DID recognise the country origins of the 3 NSW captains of the Swans. The point being that EVEN WITH that to boast of, and a fair array of NSW 'talent' over the journey, that the Swans 28 yrs on still are no more than niche on a week to week basis over all (i.e. attendance is great by Sydney standards, but, most other factors or much more 'mild' - - i.e. corporate, ratings, sponsors, local members etc). Perhaps still the greatest 'miss' by the Swans was Longmire and Carey - - - had they been 'retained' by the Swans then who knows, could you imagine a Sydney team thru the '90s with Kelly, Carey and Longmire all 'local' products....so to speak. It was good for North to get Greg Miller and via him those boys, and bad for the Swans and bad for the AFL. WS18 will have to build via whatever means it can. They no doubt would wish to target home grown talent both via the available juniors and via trading. But - does that mean half the squad from NSW? Or 6? Or what? How many people measure Sydney FC by the number of home grown Sydney lads play for them? The interest in that side peaked with D.Yorke.....certainly no local. At any rate - I do much prefer the current scheme of the relatively home grown TAC U18s first followed by the VFL team for a year and then launch the AFL side. It at least gives every opportunity - to a generation of youngsters whose interest in AFL otherwise might have been swamped by other codes. On the 'good for football' front, I'll be cheering on GC17 and WS18, and for amongst other reasons that they will have forced new ideas, new cultures, new thinking upon the AFL/clubs. We've already seen clubs look more seriously to PNG and such places, - - - more willing to look outside the square and work harder at talent development. It used to just be 'crazy' folk like Ron Barassi (Irish experiment and 5 yr plans) and Kevin Sheedy (some of his favourite project players and playing arround with an American amongst other what at the time were ideas that were probably scoffed at.). That's a good thing - - so, bring it on. ANd if that draws your interest then fabulous - - I hope you have fun (no need to be 'converted', just to enjoy!).

Invariably many people NOT involved in a GF prefer to be as far away as possible from it. For K.Hunt, obviously, the AFL GF just happened to be on during the afternoon of the day of his prelim final and ultimately last appearance for the Broncos that night vs Melb Storm. Why the heck anyone would expect him to be paying full or event scant attention to the AFL GF is beyond me. It's amazing the silly things people bring up here. Now - - had the NRL season already been wrapped up the week before and Hunt had already gone thru his own sides mad-Monday and .....well....he'd most likely be on holiday in Vegas by then (if he were an AFL player!!!).

I don't expect them all to love watching it, afterall it's their job and they are living it 24/7. But I didn't think it unreasonable for someone on 1 million dollars a year largely for promotional services to say something other than the game is basically boring. I think saying he didn't watch it would have been better than saying he went to sleep.

Yeah im always perplexed why we expect professional sportsmen to be nerdy sports watchers like the fans. Though i seem to have vague memories of certain people making hay when a league player more or less said the same thing about league. Hmm. Not saying you would do that redb although there seems to be a redb on the bigfooty forum who is less reasonable then you. Where did the estimate come from by the way? Not sure how these things are calculated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDzaUqavBLU&feature=channel_page

I am so sick of this ridiculous stamina garbage. 120 minutes playing. 4 x 30 minute quarters? don't think so. They have over 100 interchanges and 2x 5minutes break and half a bloody hour at half time. That is a fresh start. 40 minutes straight, hard tackling and running and 10 minutes break with small interchange; that is stamina.

I agree with you AndyRoo. Western Sydney has the chance to be the first NSW team from the bottom up. The Swans will still have their diehards - they're like the tradtional club versus the new kid on the westie block who hopefully gives them a black eye in the first game.

Michael Taking the moral high ground with the Swans 28 years 3 token captains (Paul Kelly is no token obv) from country NSW while the rest of the squad is imports compared to the Storm (only been in the comp 11 years) is along bow. The swans are based in Sydney and I think have had one sydney player in 28 years. The Storm and the Swans are pretty much the same, with only their time in the marketplace the difference. West Sydney is the AFL’s first chance at a real NSW team and I would suggest the ratio of home grown players should be similar to what the Eagles and Crows entered the competition with. If it’s like you are suggesting an imported side with a NSW token captain then don’t bother. Just move the swans to homebush we don’t need two Victorian teams in Sydney. A team full of imports that go on to win the flag wouldn’t actually pull that much more new afl fans to the game than if they don’t win the flag, the swans have done that. The team is going to lose money anyway so play the NSW kids even if they finish in the bottom 4, that way the AFL actually has a chance of being successful in the long run. If NSW finally have a club that doesn’t trade away it’s NSW kids for short term success it would be fantastic. Hird and Carey toiled away for Vic clubs and instead we got Brereton and Caper…… that doesn't breed a footy culture. It would mean their would be a team in the AFL that have poor crowds, poor performances and poor tv ratings for a while. Don’t think the AFL ego could cop that but as soon as that team started to turn it around that would be the first AFL game I would attend.

Agreed - I love the 'organic' nature of it, which is why I was quite happy that the AFL didn't get their way of having a team relocate to the Gold Coast - - I reckon we're far better served going through these 'organic' processes. Apart from anything else - the examples of the improved performances in U16 and U18 nationals by NSW and QLD rep team is highly encouraging and only validates the process so far.

This discussion includes various factors - some complex, some more overdue than anything, but, include that the AFL had 'ignored' large areas of NSW (Great Sydney) for quite some time, and now has invested in grassroots, in infrastructure, in developing elite pathways and greater talent identification, getting into schools and developing indigenous academies (Campbelltown & Blacktown) etc etc......long overdue much of that, and the WS18 will hopefully help to consolidate the works done, and help sustain growth into the future.........i.e. if the AFL doesn't introduce WS18, then, much of the investment would seem pretty pointless. 2 teams in all of NSW shouldn't really be that big an ask (after all, the central hub of the leagues economics is based OUTSIDE of Sydney, unlike the NRL - it's not as if the AFL is trying to take on the NRL one for one within Sydney). The AFL has been encouraging more NSW talent via the successful NSW scholarship program.....this has perhaps served it's purpose for clubs OUTSIDE of NSW for now. The WS18 needs to be able to target these sorts of kids. Just how many NSW kids need to be in the squad??? How many need to be Sydney locals?? We know we have about 80 odd players native of QLD and NSW in the AFL and yet many non AFL folk deem that as not worthy of being classified a 'national' league!?!?!? (as compared to how many non NSW/QLD folk in the NRL - - not talking about Kiwis and PI's). WS18 will need to access the best available - - at least for the up front run on senior side. The development/project players and rookie list may well be chock full of local NSW lads. Again, we see Storm by comparison has zero senior side representation by Vics, and only 1 of the Toyota Cup squad lists a Vic team as his 'junior side'. This after 12 seasons now....and 3 flags.....and limited Victorian 'acceptance',.......compared to the Sydney Swans who have had a number of NSW captains.....if 'only' from Albury (twice) and Wagga....but, still proud NSW lads. With only 1 flag in 28 seasons, but, seemingly better 'acceptance' into the Sydney market....but, still a struggle......... .....that makes you wonder what's more important.......on field success or being able to 'relate' to and engage with a market. A bit of both no doubt. So, perhaps, the key for WS18 will be NSW captain....a Lenny Hayes or Mark McVeigh type?? or lure Justin Kosichtzke or Hamish McIntosh? I reckon the Swans will be eyeing off captaincy roles for either of K.Jack, C.Bird and or J.McVeigh in the future - to continue the 'home grown' captaincy. And, at the end of the day - the other prime benefit must be having a local 'rival', to allow 2 'local derby' matches each year, and bragging rights even if both miss the finals, and, obviously, double the chance of a Sydney/NSW side at least into the last 4 of the season. btw - how good for NRL everytime Storm makes the GF and they play and Melbourne is in an inter-season (b/w footy and cricket) lull with nothing else going on....the promotional boon that is for the NRL.....whereas the AFL GF is up against NRL prelim final weekend, with 4 teams still engaged. If the NRL GF were up against the AFL prelim finals....you know very well that it's ratings would quite likely be cut in half.

Context? timing?..... if true good on him for being honest. Hunt has already provided an estimated $7M in awareness publicity. The true worth will accelerate when he starts to train, re-learns the game, plays his first VFL game, and then the first GC game of 2011 v Bris Lions at the Gabba.

Excellent news re grass roots in Sydney. This needs to be happen it is vital to develop a niche for AFL in Western Sydney.