Yesterday, Gold Coast Football Club’s Senior Coach Guy McKenna described last weekend’s heavy defeat at the hands of Carlton-aligned Northern Bullants as a genuine wake up call.

If the squad’s effort at this morning’s demanding final training session before Saturday’s clash against Coburg Tigers was any indication, the players had quickly snapped out of any mid-season slumber. Their contested work was lively, the drills were intense and combative, the players were vocal, and new kid on the AFL block Karmichael Hunt was right up to his neck in it: bumping, barking, jostling and running hard and often.

McKenna believes players and coaches alike will learn from last week’s less than exemplary result. In football, he says, sometimes the best lessons bite hardest.

“From the 20 or 30 point losses we’ve been having, maybe from a coaching and playing perspective, we’ve been thinking things have been going along okay,” he lamented.

“As an old coach of mine used to say: ‘half a yard is half a yard too much’ and I reckon we gave them almost a yard. We’ve just got to rope the boys in, pull the socks up, understand that it’s all part of our development and our journey but ultimately come to terms with the fact that we can’t shy away from hard work.”

Hunt, a former rugby league international, is expected to line up at full forward in Saturday’s starting side. It will be his first game for his new club in his newest sport since returning home from a stint playing French provincial rugby union.

Despite all the public hype surrounding Hunt’s long awaited debut, McKenna says on the field his most inexperienced recruit will be treated just the same as any other member of the squad.

“I’ll play him as much as I can, but that’ll be dictated by the way the game unfolds and also by our strength and conditioning coach.”

He says no individual player will be entrusted with holding Hunt’s hand during his first shot at a third elite level of football.

“We just can’t single out one fellow. We’d expect everyone to help Karmichael through just like we expect everyone to help through Josh Toy who’ll also be playing his first game.”

Whilst it is probably unsurprising that Hunt has shown only subtle improvements since his arrival at the club a fortnight ago, McKenna still remains more than impressed by what he’s seen thus far.

“I’ll be honest. [I haven’t seen] a great deal of [advancement in] ability because he had most of it already when he got here. He kicks the ball really well; he attacks the ball really well. We know he tackles really well. The hardest thing, and I saw it when I just did the tackling drill with him, was that he might be holding back a bit. I told him ‘don’t, because if you do, the boys won’t learn.”

He says the club has no immediate expectations of Hunt and McKenna’s pre-game message will echo the club’s stance.

“[I’ll tell him] just go out there and hunt and chase the ball. It’s important that he enjoys himself. Whether or not he touches the ball is another matter. Fact is he’s made a courageous decision. We’re supporting that and hope to make him an AFL player and we’re excited about the journey we are on.”

So how then will the club measure Hunt’s performance?

“Like we do with everyone. On work rate and attitude.”

With players becoming more and more adept at getting under each other’s skin, McKenna agrees Hunt’s high profile and inexperience is likely to draw close attention by opposition defenders. But, he says, he was more than satisfied that the physically imposing Hunt was capable of holding his ground.

“I’m sure they would try it on,” McKenna says. “But I’m sure [they’d] do that at your own peril.”

GCFC plays Coburg Tigers at Craigieburn this Saturday at 1.00pm.