Round 18 Discussion / Results

**Rudi** · 07-31-2009, 12:47 PM

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I don't think my heart's in this anymore. I completely forgot about it this week.

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**Agent Provocateur** · 07-31-2009, 06:34 PM

Originally Posted by Rudi

I don't think my heart's in this anymore. I completely forgot about it this week.

Your heart hasn't been in this for the last 6 weeks(since round 12)

Hard Justice Stan · 07-31-2009, 06:43 PM

Originally Posted by Agent Provocateur

Your heart hasn't been in this for the last 6 weeks(since round 12)

The stage is yours.

**Agent Provocateur** · 07-31-2009, 07:06 PM

Originally Posted by Hard Justice Dan

The stage is yours.

I had a go at it earlier in the season but you guys seemed to prefer Rudi so I left it to him....
I'm not interested to do it just because your nominated person has lost interest....
But if you do want me to do it then I'll start from round one next season

**Slightly off topic but any opinions on Karmichael Hunt switching from NRL to AFL and signing with the new Gold Coast team which will play VFL next year and join the AFL in 2011??

Karmichael Hunt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hard Justice Stan · 07-31-2009, 07:27 PM

Really, it doesn't matter if we get four people writing previews. It certainly doesn't have to be an exclusive job.

The Karmichael Hunt switch is a massive win for the sport. First of all, they're getting one of the NRL's rising stars. He's only 22 years old. This would be similar to Buddy crossing over to rugby. Apparently heaps of people are going apeshit up north. Awesome.

Some old rugby heads are trying to play down the impact of this by saying that this won't convert rugby fans to AFL, but they are absolutely fooling themselves if they don't think there will be a massive TV audience for his first AFL game. From a massive TV audience it is just natural that some fans will be created from that initial interest. We can only speculate the extent at this stage though. It may only convert a small amount of people, but there's no arguing that this WILL create AFL fans as far as I'm concerned.

Not only is it a big win for the sport, it is a HUGE HUGE boost for the Gold Coast franchise. Apart from landing Riewoldt (that was never going to happen) this is probably the biggest signing they could make. Hunt is huge in QLD, so they've got an extremely recognisable LOCAL brand to build their fan base around. The beauty of it is they've got him two years before they enter the comp so they can start laying the ground work around a marquee personality/player already! If they were hoping for a big name AFL player to be their big signing they'd be waiting another two years, so they're getting a massive head start here.

I couldn't speak highly enough for the brilliant work that Scott Clayton, Guy McKenna, whoever else is involved in GCFC, Andrew Demetriou, Nathan Buckley and Jason McCartney have done to secure this conversion.

Can they repeat something similar coup for the Western Sydney franchise? Let's face it, that franchise is pushing shit uphill in rugby's heartland. I have long said, and have had discussions with people involved in AFL recruiting that rugby is the sport that we need to be looking to convert players. Basketball is fantastic for producing athletes and unless the athlete can make it in America or a better Euro league there's not a heap of money in basketball (making AFL an attractive alternative). But unless the player heads overseas there's less money in the NRL than AFL. Athletically, I just love what a rugby player brings to the table (except maybe aerobic endurance for the most part). Like a basketball player, they'd need to work on their kicking a shitload. Physically they'd be at a huge advantage though. I really hope this is the start of a trend (obviously this only works for elite talents...hate to see a similar thing to the Irish situation, where any hack who shows interest will get listed because of his background).