Jayden Hunt is officially a West Coast player after making his free agency move on Monday evening.
The unrestricted free agent played 114 games for Melbourne after making his debut in 2014 and admitted that his fresh start out west came “out of the blue”.
Having featured 20 times for the Demons last campaign, including their two finals losses, Hunt says his cross-country move was only something he started considering in recent weeks.
“It was probably I started really considering it a few weeks ago,” Hunt said on SEN WA Breakfast.
“It was a bit out of the blue at the start, it wasn’t really on my radar.
“Once I sort of got my head around it, I thought it was such a good opportunity for a fresh start, to move all of the way over to the west for something new, in a whole new state with a young emerging footy team that’s looking to improve.
“So, I just saw it as a great opportunity to have a fresh start, as a 27-year-old hopefully I have a few years left.
“Yeah, it’ll bring me a lot of energy I reckon.”
Hunt played a variety of roles for the Demons across the last few seasons but is most renowned for his blistering speed.
Having achieved his best footy in 2017 when given a license to take the game on aggressively, Hunt says Eagles coach Adam Simpson is keen to have him play to his strengths at Optus Stadium.
“When I came over and spoke to a few people, mainly Simmo (Adam Simpson), he was just keen for me to sort of bring my speed,” Hunt said.
“Obviously, that’s my weapon, sort of that attacking flair on the big ground of Optus with the warmer conditions hopefully I can bring that faster ball movement to West Coast.
“Over the last couple of years, I’ve sort of played a more real lockdown defensive role.
“With a bit of sort of conservative ball movement, it’ll be good to have that license back to bring that real aggressive play and take the game on which I love doing.
“I’d love to get back to that.”
West Coast will hope the addition of Hunt helps them rebound from their disastrous 17th place effort in 2022.