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Karmichael Hunt of Gold Coast in action during the VFL Round 09 match between the Coburg Tigers and Gold Coast at Highgate Recreation Reserve, Melbourne. Slattery Images
Hamstring tightness may have cut it short, but Karmichael Hunt’s VFL debut yesterday at least had its moments – some good, some bad. At the end of it, the only conclusion to draw was that the NRL convert has a significant amount of work ahead of him.
Hunt lined up at full forward for Gold Coast, who were playing Coburg in Craigieburn, and the afternoon practically got off to the perfect start.
Roughly six minutes into the match, Hunt ran into some space inside 50 to get on the end of a well-timed handball, which enabled him to run in for an easy goal. Better still, as he was drilling it home he was pushed in the back – winning him a free kick, in the goal square, and his second goal.
Yep, two goals in the space of 20 seconds. There was a fair bit of luck in both of them but still, not a bad start at all.
A few minutes before that, he laid an impressive tackle close to the boundary and fifty metres out, which won him his first kick at senior level. The shot at goal went out of bounds, but it didn’t take long to realise tackling was his real strength.
There were a number of examples throughout the first half of Hunt laying strong tackles and creating pressure. The team sheet may have listed him at full forward, but he was playing more like a small forward than any key position player.
Outside of those frantic first few minutes and those tackles, however, the highlights didn’t come all that frequently. His first handball was a slick pass under pressure, but that was about it.
At one stage he gave away a 50 metre penalty for the way he returned the ball to a Coburg player, a sign that there are rules he still needs to learn.
He gave away a free kick for tackling a player without the ball, a sign that he did get frustrated by going extended periods without being involved in the game.
His involvement lessened greatly as the game progressed, a sign he mightn’t yet be prepared for the length of the game.
And of course, he came off grabbing his left hamstring in the third quarter, a sign those massive thighs mightn’t yet be prepared for this game, either.
So obviously, there’s room for improvement. He needs to get his fitness right, which will come over time. So too will his knowledge of the rules.
But few would have expected a greater output than what they saw yesterday.
For someone who’d only spent a couple of weeks training at Gold Coast, and had very limited Australian football experience before that, two goals against a VFL side – plus a few other positive signs, and in only two and a half quarters – seems like a decent enough return. For now, at least.
Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna had hoped Hunt “might grab one or two” marks playing up forward, which didn’t happen. It’d be fair to say marking would be hard to practice on your own when you’re in France, but nonetheless this is an important skill for any player, let alone a potential full forward.
So yes, Hunt still has plenty of work ahead of him to make it as an AFL player. Nothing on that front changed yesterday.
But at the very least, it’s good to finally be able to talk about him playing football for once.