Hunt supports Thurston code switch
Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:20
Serial code switcher Karmichael Hunt has come out in support of a possible move by Rugby League's leading player Johnathan Thurston to Rugby Union.
Hunt believes that in the professional era no player should feel duty-bound to stick to one code.
Thurston's contract with the North Queensland Cowboys is up for renewal at the end of the season, and his frank admission that he is weighing up a switch to the Rugby Union has upset the League applecart.
Hunt, who by mid-year will be playing his third sport in less than a year when he begins training with the new AFL team on the Gold Coast, believes players who chase new challenges by switching codes should not be crticised for disloyalty.
"I don't think anyone has a duty to stick to one code," Hunt said in an interview with The Brisbane Times.
"The basis of loyalty for me is serving your club to the best of your ability, for the duration of your contract. 'Thursto' has given his club, state and country and, of course, Rugby League nothing but his best."
The 23-year old Hunt, the former League international who is playing the 15-man Union code in France and signed to try his hand at Australian football next year, stunned the sporting world last July with the bombshell that he would quit League for the incoming Gold Coast Football Club.
Not content with two codes, Hunt is spending the time before linking with the Gold Coast squad on a gap year of sorts in Union. He has played for Biarritz Olympique in the French Top 14 since November.
Labelled a traitor by some league diehards for walking out, the former Brisbane Bronco and Queensland Origin regular said different standards applied to players to clubs when it came to loyalty.
"What I think needs to be remembered is that a contract serves both parties equally," Hunt told The Brisbane Times from France.
"Firstly, it enables the club to decide whether they want to re-sign and continue working with a player, and also the reverse.
"Yet many times you see the club decide to sever ties with a player to perhaps free up funds to better invest, or simply increase other players' salaries, yet this is not reported as being disloyal.
"For someone like Thursto, who has achieved so much in Rugby League, I can understand why he may be open to the thought of experiencing new challenges."
Hunt said the restrictions created by the NRL salary cap made the task of retaining its leading players more difficult, but noted that all codes faced a challenge to prevent talented athletes from seeking new opportunities elsewhere.
Hunt's move, shrouded in secrecy before his unveiling in a red Gold Coast FC Guernsey last winter, caught most by surprise. It had long been tipped that he would sign with a Rugby Union club in Europe or France, but his deal with the AFL caught everyone off guard despite the lengthy negotiations behind the scenes.
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