By MATTHEW JONES
Karmichael Hunt’s switch to AFL is nothing more than a publicity stunt, according to Canberra Raiders Toyota Cup coach Andrew McFadden.
McFadden said the switch was proof that rugby league players natural talents were superior to that of other athletes in other football codes.
“It’s them declaring war on rugby league and I think it’s 100 per cent a publicity stunt,” McFadden said. “I’m still unconvinced that it will be a successful transition.
“I think it’s a great advertisement for rugby league, that all these codes want rugby league players…we don’t do it to them, it says that we have the best athletes.”
Hunt’s three-year deal with the new Gold Coast Football Club begins in 2010 and McFadden has questioned how young AFL stars coming through the National Draft might feel about Hunt’s signing.
“If I was a young up-and-coming AFL player and I saw that they were just plucking a rugby league player out and giving him a million dollars a year, I wouldn’t be real happy about it,” McFadden said.
In the wake of Hunt’s surprise defection to AFL, Raiders First Grade Coach David Furner believes that rugby league players should show more loyalty to the game that made them stars.
Furner has also backed Ricky Stuart’s call that players who leave rugby league for rival codes should be banned from returning to the game for two years.
“I think that’s a good statement,” Furner said.
“If you were going to leave for another code, I agree that should be the case…you just can’t defect for the money, find out you’re no good then come back.
“It just goes to show the type of athletes that are involved in rugby league…If the money was the same, I don’t think Karmichael Hunt would have gone over.”
