Hunt rugby career on hold after drugs bust
WALLABIES and Queensland Reds star Karmichael Hunt has stood down voluntarily from all contractual rugby obligations after he was charged with drug possession, his lawyer said yesterday.
Hunt, a former rugby league international who made his Wallabies debut this year, was detained along with another man in Brisbane early on Saturday morning during a “random street stop”.
He was allegedly caught with a white powder, which local media said was cocaine.
Rugby Australia and the Queensland Rugby Union said they were awaiting information from the Queensland Police about the circumstances of the recent allegations before any next steps or return to rugby activities would be contemplated.
His lawyer Adam Magill said Hunt was “devastated and very upset”.
“He is not in a good way emot iona l l y,” Mag i l l t old t he Austra lian Broadcasting Cor porat ion. “The penny is starting to drop and he is just coming to terms with what is in jeopardy.”
Hunt re-signed with the Queensland Reds last month for another two years.
It is not the first time Hunt had been in trouble with the law.
He was banned for six weeks and fined A$30,000 (US$23,500) by the Reds in 2015 after plead- ing guilty to four charges of cocaine possession.
As well as his club fine, he was stripped of the Reds’ vice captaincy and ordered to pay A$2,500 by magistrates on Queensland’s Gold Coast.
Despite the setback, he managed to re-establish himself at the Reds, and made his Wallabies debut this year, becoming one of the stars of Australia’s home Tests in June.
Hunt is due to appear in court on January 29.