Gold Coast Football Club High Performance Manager Andrew Weller says Karmichael Hunt’s seven years in elite training programs will serve him well when he makes the transition to a third professional football code against Coburg Tigers on Saturday.

“People say it’s a difficult job [to oversee Hunt’s switch], but he’s been in an elite program for seven years,” Weller says. “He’s a professional athlete so he’s very easy to manage in that regard. He ticks all the boxes.”

Hunt, who spent significant portions of today’s training session under the watchful eye of GCFC forward coach Ken Hinkley, appears almost certain to line up in the GCFC forward line for his debut outing. Weller says Hunt would be a natural fit up front.

“[Lining up forward] suits his profile as an athlete. His speed endurance capabilities are very good. He ranks within the top few of our group without doing an AFL pre-season. So the potential for him to become an elite endurance runner is there.”

Weller says Hunt’s time on ground will be dictated by the state of the game rather than any fitness considerations.

“It’s hard to give you a timeframe because it’ll depend on how the game goes. But compared to the benchmarking of the other players in terms of speed and endurance, Karmichael sits well within the midline of the group so I don’t expect he’ll have to be coming off any earlier than anyone else. Besides, if you try to stick to a rigid plan you’re not catering to the athlete’s needs. So we’ve got to see how he tolerates the load and we’ll make changes accordingly.”

Weller was unperturbed by suggestions that a long history in codes better known for power over endurance would hold Hunt’s progress back. He says time is all that is needed to fine-tune Hunt’s footballing physiology.

“Being involved in the program for a long period will bring out those sorts of competencies,” he says. “I expect he’ll make significant gains. Endurance isn’t a huge challenge. One of our benchmarks is a 2km time trial. I think most AFL clubs would expect the players on their lists to come in at under seven minutes. Hunt came straight from rugby without doing a preseason and off a bit of a break and did a 7.29. That 29 seconds isn’t a huge amount of ground to make up in a preseason.”

He said Hunt’s weight wasn’t a concern.

“He’s already lost a couple of kilos. But that’s not one of our biggest priorities at the moment. It’s more about getting him acclimatised with the group and the training regimes. Skill development and game involvement are keys, so it’s very important that he gets every opportunity [to play]. He’s got the same needs as the other boys in that regard. He needs to be exposed to the highest level of competition he can play in.”