Former Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna has admitted he wasn’t keen on the signing of former NRL star Karmichael Hunt.
Hunt quit the Brisbane Broncos to sign a lucrative three-year deal at the Suns in July 2009 and spent a year playing rugby union in France while under contract.
The cross-code athlete wasn’t the type of player McKenna was after when tasked with building the expansion club's list ahead of their inaugural season in 2011.
“I’ll be honest, I wasn’t keen (on signing Karmichael Hunt),” McKenna told SEN Breakfast.
“Because I was a young coach, we had a big list and I kept saying to our recruiting people, ‘We need everyone that can play’ and we had the smallest coaching group.
“I didn’t want to take Ken Hinkley away from coaching our fellas to have a special project in Karmichael Hunt.”
Hunt went on to play 44 games in four seasons with the highlight his after-the-siren goal to help the Suns beat Richmond in 2012.
“He was there, he was fantastic, he was a big body that we just desperately needed,” McKenna added.
“But I would have loved a big body that actually spent his time in football, not gone off and played rugby league.
“He ended up playing 44 games, so he served his purpose on the field and off the field. We had fantastic community support thanks to K.”