He hasn’t been a rugby league player since 2009 but Karmichael Hunt threatens to overshadow the NRL’s season kick-off in Brisbane.
Former Bronco Hunt will face Southport Magistrates Court on the Gold Coast just hours before his old club begins the 2015 NRL season against defending premiers South Sydney.
The 28-year-old, who quit the code in 2009 to pursue an AFL career with the Gold Coast Suns and is now with Super Rugby’s Queensland Reds, is facing four charges of supplying a dangerous drug.
He’ll front court alongside Gold Coast Titans pair Beau Falloon and Jamie Dowling, who were also served with notices to appear by Queensland’s Crime and Corruption Commission last month in a scandal which has rocked the NRL club.
Six other current or former Titans, including State of Origin stars Greg Bird and Dave Taylor, have also been caught up in the cocaine scandal with further court appearances to come on Monday.
Gold Coast lawyer Campbell MacCallum, who is representing several of the Titans’ players including Dowling, said he expected Thursday’s appearance to be fairly straightforward.
MacCallum told AAP he was anticipating the matter to be adjourned for a later date to allow time for the matters to be mediated.
Titans recruit Josh Hoffman said the rest of the team hadn’t lost their focus amid the scandal and Thursday’s developments wouldn’t overshadow their excitement to get their season underway against the Wests Tigers on Saturday.
“With the playing group that we’ve got here we’re happy to move on with things and look forward to the season starting,” Hoffman said.
“That’s the kind of buzz we’ve got around the camp at the moment.”
Titans coach Neil Henry has already expressed his desire for the five current players who’ve been stood down to return to first team duties after their initial court appearance.
A decision on whether the players will be allowed back into the fold isn’t likely until after Monday’s appearances meaning Falloon and Dowling are unlikely to have any part to play against the Tigers.
Reds coach Richard Graham has already ruled out making Hunt available for selection in their Super Rugby derby with the NSW Waratahs on Saturday night.
It will be the third straight match the code-hopper has missed since the scandal broke and no official decision has been made on what will happen to Hunt following Thursday’s court appearance.
NQ Cowboy
Guest
Yeah, smart move by Karmichael. Plead to the lesser offence of possess instead of supply. Got it over and done with as quick as possible and left the Titans to deal with all the media scrutiny. I think he'll be sacked by Qld Rugby but he'll easily pick up a contract on an overseas rugby team to play the next couple of years for good money.
marco
Guest
Hunt pleaded guilty. Good on him, he owned up to it, he will get his punishment and move on. Will be interesting to see what The Titans do. Guilty players surely must be at least suspended for a long period. Sponsors and society cant accept drug use of this kind in high level sport. Time to get this all out of the way so we can enjoy our sport.
ferret
Guest
"He hasn’t been a rugby league player since 2009 but Karmichael Hunt threatens to overshadow the NRL’s season kick-off in Brisbane." Only by idiots like you.
Greg trilby
Guest
To be good it should at least be subtle. The court cases won't have much effect on nrl fans, but may turn off neutral sports fans especially with all the spin like the titans going into administration being good for the fans.
up in the north
Roar Rookie
Jeeze I love sarcasm.
Kirk
Guest
c'mon people, are you seriously telling me you are still going to watch the Broncos vs Souths game when this pending court case is going on in the back ground??? My mind is 100% focussed on Karmichael and his drug trafficking syndicate - he was once an NRL player after all. I have honestly not been able to sleep with this continuing saga.. I just think the NRL should call the season off in 2015, re-assess where things are at in 12 months time. Perhaps by then some people will have moved on from this off field crisis and can once again focus on the footy.
Benedict Arnold
Guest
I've been thinking about this cocaine scandal all week and have come to the conclusion that I think this could be just the thing the code needs for the better. I actually hope these guys are found guilty and I hope that they are dealt with harshly. I'm sick of seeing players like bird bring the game into disrepute and getting more than their fair share of chances. I hope we can get to a stage one day where we no longer look at players who are guilty of criminal activity as people who need the game to rehabilitate. We always hear a comment of "the best thing for him is to be back out there on the footy field", it's like they need to game more than we need them (russell packer). The code doesn't need these blokes. Usually dumb people and dumb choices go hand in hand. Nobody needs these people. They don't learn. Bird is a perfect example. His history tells you all you need to know. Put the fear of god into the players so they are too scared do anything illegal. Make the punishment harsh, exile them from the game. Anybody who is dumb enough to fall into this group had it coming to them. It is not exactly a huge ask for someone to be a model citizen for the duration of their NRL career. They have their whole life ahead of them after it to do bad things. Let's just send the message that you can't do it playing rugby league!
The Barry
Roar Guru
Only if you let it...
Jeremy
Guest
For a media overhyping off field drama maybe. For everybody else footy is back.
Mike from Tari
Guest
How does this overshadow the start of the NRL season, to me I am not interested in the court case as I am sure every Rabbitohs & Broncos fan couldn't give a toss about it, nobody will be found guilty, the only interest will be if those players get to play on the weekend because I have already lodged my tips as have other people.