Change of Sports
On 29 July 2009, Hunt signed a deal to switch codes and play Australian rules football for the newly formed Gold Coast Football Club, which joined the AFL in the 2011 season. The deal, reputed to be worth over $3 million is subsidised by the AFL and includes a substantial component of AFL development and promotional responsibility. The move generated significant controversy in both the NRL and the AFL and received international media coverage.
On 17 October 2009, it was revealed he agreed to play for the French professional rugby union team Biarritz Olympique based in Biarritz, Aquitaine. Hunt played in the Top 14 French club competition and the European Heineken Cup. The six month deal was arranged by his manager David Riolo after the previous deal fell through. He returned to Australia in May 2010 to begin his contract with the Gold Coast.
At the commencement of his AFL contract in 2010, he will become one of just three AFL players to earn over a million a year, the others being Jonathan Brown and Chris Judd. He is the first player to appear in the senior grade of both the NRL and the AFL (or their historical equivalents).
Before his AFL career had begun, Hunt featured in television commercials for Swisse vitamins introduced as Gold Coast AFL player.
The AFL's experiment was largely derided by AFL personalities throughout Hunt's early Australian rules career. Wayne Carey is quoted to have said that "I just think he's really going to struggle. I'm just not sure a rugby player - as good as he is - can do it." Tony Shaw was quoted in 2011 to have said "he just cannot play the game naturally and it won't work. Just say to him, 'Take your money, you've been fantastic for us', maybe see the year out, but I wouldn't be playing him very often any more." Paul Roos is quoted to have said that "a player of Karmichael Hunt's current ability would probably be worth only $100,000 in the AFL". Jason Akermanis is quoted to have said in reference to both Hunt and Israel Folau – who converted from rugby league to Australian rules football the year after Hunt – that "if they can't run and they can't handball - and we're only talking basics like kick, run, chase, handball and get body-to-body collisions - and can't get up to speed its going to be such a waste of time and money"
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