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Karmichael Hunt to Debut

Former rugby league international Karmichael Hunt will make his long awaited VFL debut when he lines up at full forward for GCFC against Coburg Tigers on Saturday.

Hunt played 11 rugby league test matches for Australia between 2006 and 2008 and has only just returned home following a successful stint with French provincial rugby union club Biarritz. He is now looking to become the first ever footballer to play rugby league, rugby union and AFL at elite level.

Hunt will not be the only first gamer on Saturday. Joining him are exciting 18 year-olds Josh Toy and Tom Nicholls. Both are products of the AIS/AFL Academy.

Other inclusions this week are Charlie Dixon, Rex Liddy, David Swallow, Liam Patrick and Roland Ah Chee.

The full team is:

B: Mitch HARLEY Michael GUGLIOTTA Josh TOY(debut)
HB: Taylor HINE Charlie DIXON Roland AH CHEE
C: Trent McKENZIE Marc LOCK (c) Joey DAYE
HF: Luke RUSSELL Danny STANLEY Sam ILES
F: Rex LIDDY Karmichael HUNT (debut) Alik MAGIN
R: Zac SMITH Daniel HARRIS Brandon MATERA

INT: Tom NICHOLLS (debut) David SWALLOW Liam PATRICK
Piers FLANAGAN Maverick WELLER
EMG: Jack STANLAKE Matthew SHAW Hayden JOLLY

In: Toy, Dixon, Liddy, Hunt, Nicholls, Patrick, Ah Chee, Swallow
Out: Jolly, Rees, Steven, Coad, Ablett, Thompson, Moss, Shaw

GCFC Senior Coach Guy McKenna said player and coaching staff alike were excited to finally be seeing Karmichael Hunt’s career get underway.

“Karmichael’s fairly comfortable about everything. He’s excited about it. This is all about throwing him in the deep end. Actually seeing him play will tell us an enormous about what we need to do from a development point of view. Once we see what he’s good at and not so good at we’ll know for certain what it is we need to work on to get him up for round one, 2011.”

Although looking forward to witnessing Hunt’s first on-field moments in a new sport, McKenna is characteristically grounded about what it really means.

“He’s no different to any of the guys on our list we are looking to develop. We can’t plough all these man hours into Karmichael to the detriment of everything else. We simply can’t afford to do that. We like to think of Karmichael as part of our program which has always been a development model and that’s what it will continue to be for the next five to ten years or so.”

And on the topic of development, McKenna said he was just as interested in seeing what two young project players in Tom Nicholls and Josh Toy do with their first up opportunities.

Nicholls, is an athletic ruck prospect who has been in the selection mix for a few weeks following solid showings in the AFLQ competition.

Josh Toy, who is still at school, joins the team having spent the bulk of the season in Melbourne.

“For personal reasons Josh stayed down south and we’ve absolutely respected that need,” McKenna said. “He’s has been playing for PEGS [Penley and Essendon Grammar School]. He’s certainly going to be a very good player for us long term and a real leader around the club. He’s a ripping fella.”

McKenna was philosophical about the reasons for his team’s heavy loss to an on-song Northern Bullants outfit last weekend. This week, he said, was all about concentrating on the detail necessary to compete.

“Last week the effort for some - perhaps even most - was there for all to see. We’ve got to back our structuring because it kept us competitive for the previous seven rounds. But we gave [Northern Bullants’] midfielders half a yard. We also gave their forwards half a yard. And in the end we paid a price. We just didn’t cross our t’s and dot our i’s. So this week I want to see more accountability.”

• Richmond-aligned Coburg Tigers sit in 11th place on the VFL ladder, half a win clear of GCFC in 12th.
• Karmichael Hunt is 23 years old, stands 186cms tall and weighs in at 92kgs. He made his National Rugby League debut in 2004 with the Brisbane Broncos, played every game that year, and won the Dally M Rookie of the Year award for his stellar opening season. In 2006 he realised a childhood dream by representing Queensland and Australia. Over the course of his five year stint in rugby league, Hunt played 124 games for the Broncos, represented Queensland in 11 State of Origin games, and lined up for Australia on ten occasions. Last year he ‘switched codes’ and played Top 14 French provincial rugby with Biarritz Olympique. He committed to a third code switch in July 2009 when he agreed to a three year deal with GCFC.
• Tom Nicholls is 201cms tall and hails from Yarrawonga in northern Victoria. He has played for Sandringham Dragons, Vic Metro at under 16 level and is a graduate of the AFL/AIS Academy.
• Josh Toy was a member of Vic Metro under 16 and under 18 teams at the NAB AFL Championships and was selected in AFL/AIS Academy squad that toured South Africa in 2009. After the tour he received the Ben Mitchell Medal, a peer nominated honour awarded to the player who displays the most outstanding contribution across the whole team, including leadership, discipline and work ethic.
• GCFC’s first-choice backman Michael Coad is recovering well in hospital after suffering broken ribs and kidney damage in a sickening collision during last week’s game. The typically courageous Coad was running back with the flight of the ball when the incident occurred.