Gold Coast Football Club High Performance Manager Andrew Weller is the man charged with getting Karmichael Hunt ready for the AFL.

There is no doubt the 23-year-old is an athlete but AFL is a game which calls for different talents.

The big obstacles facing Hunt are transforming himself from a power athlete to an elite runner, which is the standard requirement of an AFL midfielder.

GCFC coach Guy McKenna has already indicated he intends to eventually build Hunt into a long-term midfielder.

To do that, Hunt -- who will have the spotlight on his every move -- will have to build up his fitness base to the point where he is able to run 15-18km a game.

It's a big task but that is where Weller comes in.

As the former St Kilda strength and conditioning coach says, Hunt will have 12 months to get himself ready for his AFL debut.

"It is not like he is going to turn around and play a game of AFL tomorrow," said Weller.

"He's got a nice lead-in time to adapt to the rigours of AFL.

"If that means he needs to become aerobically more capable, we will put that in to his training."

Weller said he would sit down and assess Hunt when he arrives at the club in May next year.

"It is obvious he has the attributes of speed, power and agility and going into an AFL program is different in terms of aerobic capacity," he said.

"I am sure once we test him along with the rest of the group, that is something we can work on."

When asked if Hunt's strongly built body will have to change to make it in the AFL, Weller said: "It depends on where he fits into the team structure.

"If he is going to play down back then his body type doesn't need to change hugely. If he is going to play in the midfield, there's not too many midfielders that have that amount of size about them.

"But with the type of training, if you do more running, your body is naturally going to change anyway.

By Nick Smart, Courtesy of the Gold Coast Bulletin