THE final sorry tale of the Broncos’ disastrous handling of recruitment and retention under former head coach Anthony Griffin has emerged, with revelations a deal to bring Karmichael Hunt back to the club was scuppered due to the club’s tardy handling of negotiations. Speaking for the first time about the failed bid to get him back to the club at which he debuted as a 17-year-old, Hunt was philosophical, insisting the cards had fallen perfectly for him, given he had always planned to see out his professional career playing rugby union.
“I had made the decision a few years ago that I wanted to have a few years playing rugby here in Australia before I finished up,” Hunt told The Weekend Australian.
“But when the Broncos spoke to me late last year I was thinking I would play out one contract there and then look at trying to sort something out with Queensland Rugby.
“I was coming off a really disappointing season at the Suns. My body just wasn’t coping with the training loads. Four years of running like those boys do in that game and I was breaking down.
“The Broncos had just finished a tough year themselves and the talks were pretty advanced. I certainly thought that I’d be back there in 2014.
“But things just took longer than expected and by the time the club was able to formalise an offer I was already two weeks into pre-season training at the Suns.
“It didn’t sit well to think I was walking out a year early on my deal but the idea of just walking out on the team when we were already into our preparations ... I just couldn’t do that.”
The collapse of the discussions with Hunt left Griffin scratching to come up with four legitimate ball-playing options capable of forming the team’s “spine” — an issue which plagued Brisbane’s 2014 campaign from the start.
That it was the lack of input from fullback and five-eighth — Hunt’s two preferred positions — which caused Griffin the greatest headaches brings even further into question the approach Griffin and then football manager Andrew Gee appeared to adopt when negotiating with players.
It was an area Bennett moved immediately to address upon his return to the club he helped build. The seven-time premiership winning coach needed just six weeks to drastically overhaul the playing list. Internationals Darius Boyd, Adam Blair and Anthony Milford were added to a group which looks the equal of any in the competition.
For his part, Hunt is happy where he is, working studiously on his positional play and the technical nuances required in the 15-man game — which he last played during a short stint with French side Biarritz Olympique in 2009-10.
A more mature, hardened and committed professional than he was back in those days, Hunt is typically setting his sights in this final leg of his sporting journey at the highest level.
“I am a better athlete now to be honest, certainly than when I played in France. That was a holiday really with a little bit of footy thrown in,” he said.
“This is another challenge for me. It is new and exciting but I think at 28, and with everything I have learned since starting in the NRL and then through my time in AFL, I really believe I have something to offer in rugby.
“Certainly my kicking game is much better.”
