Coburg Tiger talls nominated to oversee debutant Karmichael Hunt * Peter Kogoy
* From: The Australian
* June 08, 2010 COBURG Tigers coach David Newett is tossing up between Jayden Post and Graham Polak, both with senior AFL experience, to pick up million-dollar Gold Coast recruit Karmichael Hunt when he debuts in the VFL on Saturday.
"I'm expecting Guy McKenna (Gold Coast coach) to start Hunt across the backline to get a feel of the pace of the game," Newett said yesterday. "At this stage I'm not thinking about playing a tagger on him. Very unlikely. My best guess is that McKenna will start him in a defensive role to start to give him a chance to have a good look at the ball coming towards him."
Should McKenna's game plan play into Newett's thinking, his options are to play either Polak or Post.
Of the pair, Polak is the more experienced although he's listed as a mature-aged rookie on the Richmond senior list, having previously played 73 games with Fremantle.
Polak is on the comeback trail after sustaining a serious brain injury after being struck by a Melbourne tram in 2008.
Post played seven senior games with Richmond last season, having been picked up the year before in the national draft in the second round and 26th overall.
Both have a sizeable height advantage over the 186cm Hunt, with Post (195cm) slightly taller than Polak.
"A final decision won't be made until Friday night at the team selection meeting," Newett said.
Like their senior counterparts at Richmond, the Coburg Tigers have had a slow start to the season, before bouncing back with a 15-point win over Bendigo on Saturday.
On the other hand McKenna's Gold Coast heads to the Highgate Recreation Reserve in suburban Craigieburn coming off a 105-point thrashing at the hands of the Northern Bullants.
"I'm not reading too much into that result," Newett said. "McKenna has got a young talented list of players and were only a point down at quarter-time and who came up against the Bullants with Simon Wiggins, Brock McLean and Lachie Henderson all having had senior AFL experience."
For Coburg general manager Lee Fraser, the newly built Highgate ground will be bursting at the seams come game day, with the match televised live into Victoria on ABC1.
"We got about 3000 through the gate for Box Hill when the ground was officially opened," Fraser said. '
"I'm expecting that crowd figure to double having heavily promoted Karmichael's debut with the Gold Coast and it being a public holiday weekend."
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/coburg-tiger-talls-nominated-to-oversee-debutant-karmichael-hunt/story-e6frg7mf-1225876669713
