NSW Waratahs claim Karmichael Hunt off the Queensland scrapheap

Karmichael Hunt has agreed to a last-chance lifeline with the NSW Waratahs that offers the forgotten Wallaby a chance to move on from his tarnished time at the Queensland Reds.

Karmichael Hunt of the Queensland Reds handles the ball during their Round 14 Super Rugby game against the Western Force at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Friday, May 26, 2017. (AAP Image/Dan Peled) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY

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Karmichael Hunt has agreed to a last-chance lifeline with the NSW Waratahs that offers the forgotten Wallaby a chance to move on from his tarnished time at the Queensland Reds.

The deal finally untangles the limbo that Hunt’s career at the top-level has been in for the 12 months since his second drugs drama in Queensland.

He was a $500,000 ball-and-chain to Queensland rugby this year, banished by Reds boss Brad Thorn and would have been again next year but for the Waratahs deciding to give Hunt another chance at 32.

The few nibbles from overseas clubs that might have found Hunt a new home overseas either fell over or were unsuitable.

Hunt did not play for the Reds this season. AAP Image/Dan Peled.

The Queensland Rugby Union will be paying part of Hunt’s contract to play at the Waratahs but this has to be seen as a win for all parties.

It has taken delicate negotiations between the two clubs, the Rugby Union Players Association, Rugby Australia and Hunt’s management to reach a point where the six-Test Wallaby can bid for a Super Rugby comeback.

The upside for the Reds is that the Hunt move means Brisbane-born utility Bryce Hegarty will be released by the Waratahs to return to Queensland where he will bolster the thin ranks at fullback, fly half and goalkicker.

With Israel Folau entrenched at fullback at the Waratahs, utility Hunt’s role seems certain to be in the centres or as a supersub to maximise the value of his tough tackling, direct play and experience.

Hunt faced off-field dramas in Queensland.

In a nutshell, Thorn didn’t want him around his young, impressionable side this year and made no overtures to invite him back to training in February when cocaine possession charges were booted out of court through lack of evidence.

The code will always be in the dark about the cocaine found on the ground in the car park close to where police arrested the multi-code footballer in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley in December last year.

The stupidity of the situation he put himself in was undeniable considering just weeks before he had inked a new two-year, $1 million deal with Rugby Australia and the Reds.

It followed his 2015 ban for cocaine possession which gave rugby a black eye in his first Super Rugby season when the code inherited the fallout from acts performed at the end of his AFL career with the Gold Coast Suns the previous year.

Hunt is on his last chance with Australian rugby. Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images.

Hunt was rugby’s Invisible Man when missing the entire 16-game Super Rugby season this year before a club comeback for Brisbane club Souths in July.

He was a frontline back for Brisbane City in the National Rugby Championship in September-October when coach Mick Heenan said he was a model citizen, a leader, fit and performing at a high level.

When Hunt made his club return in July, he revealed to The Courier-Mail that Wallabies boss Michael Cheika had been in contact for months to check on his wellbeing during some dark times.

Hunt was open about his flaws, ongoing visits to a psychologist for his stress-triggered issues and “this constant learning curve through life for me.”

He needs to heed his own mid-year words to make the Waratahs move the success he wants it to be: “If there is one thing I know I’m not immune to the pitfalls of what can pop up in life, especially with recurring stress and managing that.

“I’ve been burnt twice now for my own behaviour. I’m just focused on moving forward...improving as a man and playing footy.”

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