Hunt launches GC SUNS Cup finals day

Karmichael Hunt lobbed into a rugby league stronghold yesterday but was not there on a mission to poach youngsters to his new love of Australian rules football.

The former Queensland and Australian league fullback was at Keebra Park State High to help launch the school’s tilt at the Gold Coast Suns Cup, a statewide competition contested by boys in Years 8 and 9, primary schoolboys and primary schoolgirls.

The Cup finals are on at Metricon Stadium tomorrow when Keebra Park take on other regional qualifiers St Augustines (Cairns) and Our Lady of Mercy (Mackay) in a round-robin series.

Hunt was at Keebra to hand on some tips to players rather than coax others to the AFL code. 

“It’s good to be here,” Hunt said. “And it’s good to see a few kids with the Sherrin (Australian rules ball) in their hands, kicking it around.

“Obviously this is a league school and I’ve played with a few of the boys who were NRL prospects.

“Benji Marshall came here and Greg Eastwood came here. I played with Greg at the Broncos.

“But it’s not so much me coming to a league school and poaching their players.

“There’s a balance in there and it gives them another option to play sport — and I hear they’re doing well at it.”

Hunt is a strong advocate for variety in young sporting lives.

“As long as they’re out there having fun,” he said. “That’s the best thing about sport as a kid — that you’re having fun with your mates.

“I think some of my fondest moments playing sport were at school.

“I went to Sunnybank State High for four years and we were out on the footy fields playing soccer and on the basketball courts shooting hoops.

“AFL wasn’t an option for me back then but if it was I dare say I would have been out there kicking a Sherrin around.”

 Gold Coast SUNS Cup Grand Final Day Match Schedule