Calls to sack Hunt
WALLABY and Queensland legend Sam Scott- Young has slammed Queensland’s backing of disgraced star Karmichael Hunt, demanding the player be sacked following revelations of his drug- taking confession to police.
Scott- Young, a seven- Test Wallaby who has since become a millionaire businessman, says Australian rugby is “lowering its standards” by allowing Hunt to remain in the game. Hunt has been training with the Wallabies squad for the past fortnight.
“He should be immediately sacked by the QRU and ARU,” Scott- Young said.
“I am sitting back watching what the QRU and ARU are going to do, because if any business owner had a staff member caught with his pants down like this, they’d be out the door.
“What Australian rugby doesn’t need is any more negative press.
“What they do need is strong leadership, people with guts and fortitude.
“To stand behind a drug user, what does that do for grassroots rugby and the parents of children who play the game?”
Hunt’s statement to Queensland’s Crime and Corruption Commission earlier this year, in which he admitted to being a drug user over six years and named players from AFL club Gold Coast Suns and NRL side Gold Coast Titans who he’d used or purchased drugs with, surfaced in News Corp newspapers last Sunday.
The report has prompted the AFL to open an investigation into the Suns.
Hunt was arrested and charged earlier this year in a drug sting, although his charge for supply was downgraded to possession, to which he plead guilty to and was fined $ 2500.
The offences occurred before he joined the Reds.
The QRU fined Hunt $ 30,000 – he’s understood to be on a $ 600,000- a- year deal – and stripped him of the team’s vice- captaincy.
At the time QRU chief executive Jim Carmichael said his organisation would support Hunt through rehabilitation and that since he has not reoffended since joining them, they would stand by the 28year- old.
“Major professional sport in Australia also regards the use of illicit substances as a welfare issue in the first instance,” Carmichael said.