Hunt goes full circle and heads back to rugby league

CODE-swapping former Brisbane Broncos star fullback Karmichael Hunt will return to rugby league training with the Queensland Cup side Souths Logan Magpies.

After a 17-year professional career, which saw him play league for the Broncos, Kangaroos, the Queensland State of Origin, AFL for the Gold Coast Suns, and rugby union for the Reds, Wallabies and Waratahs, Hunt will start training with Souths Logan on Monday.

He left rugby league 2010.

Souths Logan long-serving chief executive Jim McClelland confirmed Hunt, 34, in

Karmichael Hunt in action for (from left) the Broncos, Suns and Waratahs.

would be training with the Magpies alongside another former NRL star, Kevin Locke, who has signed for the 2021 season.

Hunt, who has been touted by coaching great Wayne

Bennett as a future coach, stressed while he was looking forward to training with his junior league club, his No.1 priority was still to pursue a European rugby career if possible.

But the reality is the

COVID-19 world has made Hunt’s next step in professional rugby decidedly uncertain, leaving Souths Logan as a genuine option. Asked about the prospects

Hunt playing for the

Magpies in season 2021, McClelland said: “It is unknown. If he was wanting to play, then we are comfortable having him in our side.

“The initial benefit to us is having someone like Karmichael in our training group because he is an ultimate professional.

“He has plenty to input into our young men and women with his footy knowledge and also around his life journey.’’

Hunt, whose wife Emma is expecting the couple’s fourth child within a few weeks, also has coaching aspirations and McClelland said he would love to see him involved in the club as a coach in the future.

“We are the club that can give him that McClelland said.

“I have spoken to Wayne Bennett about it and Wayne said he has plenty to offer …

“He is a student of the game of rugby league.’’

Hunt burst into the NRL in 2004 as a teenage fullback for the Brisbane Broncos and progressed to play for Queensland and Australia.

But at the end of the 2010 season Hunt sensationally switched codes to join AFL club Gold Coast (2011-2014).

He then joined the Reds (2015). He was with the Waratahs last season but NSW officials did not renew his contract for 2021, leading to Hunt’s return to Brisbane. opportunity,’’