Tyson salutes coach Hunt

Thulani Hlatshwayo (left) has heaped praise on Bidvest Wits head coach Gavin Hunt, after a season that was about as stellar as they come.

“Tyson” captained Bidvest Wits to the Absa Premiership title and MTN8, and was also recently named permanent Bafana Bafana skipper by Stuart Baxter.

“Coach Gavin awakened a beast in me, something I never thought I had,” said the 27-year-old this week, as he was named Wits’ Playerof-the-Season and Player’s Player-of-the-Season.

“He (Hunt) is a coach who likes winning all the time,” added Hlatshwayo, who joined Wits in 2014 from Ajax Cape Town, a season after Hunt arrived at the club.

“He has a lot of character. Coming from Ajax, when you won or lost, everything was normal, chilled, we knew playing away we would (probably) only get one point or zero points. Moving to Wits, whenever we lose there are a lot of meetings!

“Sometimes … if you lose, everyone in the squad, including those who played 90 minutes, trains the next day like everyone else who was on the bench or in the stands. That is the kind of coach we have, it builds character.”

The accolades are likely to continue coming for Hlatshwayo, meanwhile, who is nominated in three categories at the upcoming PSL Awards, including the PSL Footballer-of-the-Season Award. The defender, however, has his eye more on another category.

Wits, meanwhile, have already started their transfer business ahead of the new season, confirming yesterday the arrival of attacking midfielder Daylon Claasen at the club. Claasen is a free agent after leaving Bundesliga 2 side 1860 Munich.

Hunt has also confirmed that midfielder Thamsanqa Sangweni is training with the Wits squad.