Courtesy of the Courier Mail | By Marcus Ashcroft

WE are hearing a lot about how much Karmichael Hunt has to learn but it is how much he can teach that excites us the most. There is no doubt he faces a steep learning curve to become an AFL footballer and we've worked pretty hard in designing a program that will give him every chance.

We've even utilised the information from leading sports psychologist Phil Jauncey, who has profiled Karmiehael's personality so we know the very best way to present new information for him to absorb. But even without having played a game of footy at senior level, there are plenty of things Karmichael can teach our players. The most obvious one is tackling.

Were going to make "K" our unofficial tackling coach. We're even considering giving him one-on-one sessions with his teammates as part of their regular skills coaching. Each year the importance of tackling increases in our game and it will continue to do so. Most clubs now have tackling coaches who are either ex-rugby league people, or wrestlers who generally entered coaching through rugby league.

The fact umpires are now more willing to award free kicks for holding the ball means the result of a good tackle that once resulted in a ball-up, now causes a turnover. "K" doesn't just know how to hit to hurt, which is always an asset in any code of football, he knows how to pin arms to stop offloads and, being on the last line of defence at fullback in his NRL days, is adept at chasing down a man to lay a tackle as opposed to waiting for them to run at him.

In addition to his tackling ability, we've also recognised he can teach our boys another skill, and that is how to evade or fend off tackles and or how to hold his ground and free his arms to get rid of the football when he is being held.

The gym is another area where "K" is already a leader at our club. He is a powerful young man and you can see our guys are in awe of him when he starts throwing weights around. The less obvious but perhaps most important area where he can be a teacher to our side is professionalism.

Karmichael has been an AFL footballer for less than a week but he has been a full-time professional athlete for seven years. He knows what is required in the gym, on the training paddock, in front of the cameras and in the community. Travelling interstate every second week to compete is not foreign to him - in Europe he was crossing international borders to play. He knows how to look after his body, how to recover and what to eat.

Australian football will become second nature but being a professional athlete already is and our young players, most of whom are still teenagers, can learn a lot from him.