By PETER JESSUP
Karmichael Hunt is being treated as a precious asset at the Brisbane Broncos.
The coach and captain have stood up for him after games, calling on referees to halt a series of high-shots on their young star. So has his mum.
And he's not being allowed to speak to the
media. Broncos coach Wayne Bennett, an astute judge of character and footballing ability, has seen to it that Hunt has been shielded from the off-field attention that might have otherwise come his way as he's torn up opposition defences on the paddock.
It was Bennett who said Hunt was too young for State of Origin football this year, after the transplanted Aucklander had been selected for, and rejected, the approach to play for his country of birth.
Hunt was born in Auckland, his junior club was the Avondale Wolves, but when he was 12 his parents shifted to Brisbane for a better future for the family. Karmichael stood out in junior league grades at the South Acacia Ridge club. He also stood out in a schools rugby tournament and won a two-year scholarship to Anglican Church Grammar School.
He was selected from there for both the Queensland rugby union and league schoolboys sides. He made the Australian Schoolboys league side last year and played against the Junior Kiwis in a 14-4 victory at Albany and a 12-8 defeat at Porirua. Among the Australians were a number of New Zealand-eligible players, including Benji Marshall.
Playing for the national schoolboys side did not disqualify Hunt from representing New Zealand, but playing for New Zealand would rule him out of State of Origin football for two years. According to the international transfer rules as applied by the Australians, to be eligible for Origin you have to be eligible for Australia and the Rugby League International Foundation requires a two-year stand-down period for international transfers.
Had he accepted in April, he would have been the youngest Kiwi ever, at 17 years 156 days (Dennis Williams was 18 years and one day when he played in the team who beat Great Britain 18-13 at Salford in 1971).
But he is the youngest Bronco ever at 17 years 118 days on debut.
When the Kiwi opportunity came along, Bennett said the club would not stop Hunt taking it up and Hunt confirmed the Broncos applied no pressure and had made no comment ahead of his decision. In one of only two interviews he has given, he said then that he grew up in Brisbane admiring the play of Gorden Tallis and Darren Lockyer at Origin level and wanted to emulate them. "Being a Queenslander is in my heart."
His goals were to play well for the Broncos, then to make the Maroons. If he was never selected for Australia he would not regret the decision not to go for New Zealand, he said at the time. Since then it's been silence.
He is described by club spokesman Tony Durkin as "a very smart kid, very approachable". But the press can't approach. Not because he was unintelligent or they were scared he'd put his foot in it, Durkin maintained. Brisbane media say Hunt got a scorching after answering his phone when the local Sunday newspaper called. There have been no more interviews.
"He knows not to, he knows he'll get in hot water if he does," one journalist said.
It's been an uneasy stand-off, but the Broncos-supporting local press accept it.
"Wayne's [Bennett] seen a lot of kids come and go," the Brisbane comments man said, "and he doesn't want it all to get too much for him [Hunt]. There was Brad Meyers - burst onto the scene and in the same way was supposed to be the next big thing, all over the news all the time, made the Australian team in 2001 and has done nothing since."
Hunt made his NRL debut against the Warriors in round one this year, at the expense of former Warrior Motu Tony who had performed well at fullback in pre-season but then suffered a leg injury. Hunt was rested by Bennett four minutes from the end of that game - the only four minutes he has missed all season. Bye, bye Motu.
Bennett has told Brisbane league insiders that he regards Hunt as the best player at age 17 that he has ever seen, better even than Lockyer. "He's got a football brain so that makes him very valuable," the coach said.
Former Kangaroo and Dragons prop Craig Young is another admirer who, while talent-spotting for St George, rang coach Nathan Brown and told him to sign Hunt immediately. But the Broncos got him.
Hunt was a centre in junior grades but Bennett put him at fullback to give him freedom to roam. "He doesn't have to play the structured parts of the game. It allows him to show his flair." That flair has produced 13 tries. Hunt is averaging 117m gain after 19 games, up there with the best of fullbacks. He has been largely protected on defence, shielded by the more experienced. He makes few errors other than positional lapses.
He's yet to do full pre-season training and has only just started on weights.
He's still growing. And he's not 18 until November.
Karmichael Hunt
Born: November 17, 1986, Auckland.
Junior club: Avondale Wolves in Auckland, South Acacia Ridge in Brisbane.
Represented Queensland Schoolboys at both union and league.
Australian Schoolboys league representative 2003,
NRL debut: Round one 2004, v Warriors at Suncorp Stadium. 19 games, 13 tries
By PETER JESSUP
Karmichael Hunt is being treated as a precious asset at the Brisbane Broncos.
The coach and captain have stood up for him after games, calling on referees to halt a series of high-shots on their young star. So has his mum.
And he's not being allowed to speak to the
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