By Michael Whiting
 

Gold Coast SUNS coach Guy McKenna said he was now in two minds about dropping Karmichael Hunt back to reserves to develop his offensive game after the rugby league convert's excellent showing against Geelong on Saturday night.

Hunt has played all eight GC SUNS matches this season and picked up 12 disposals and kicked a booming 55m goal in a more attacking role against the Cats.

McKenna said his original plan was to put the defender back to the seconds to continue developing his skills with the ball, but now he was not so sure.

"We were thinking about giving him a rest for his offensive play - I know he got caught holding the ball at one stage - but his ability to engage in that offensive play was really encouraging," he said post match.

"Still at some stage he's going to have a rest. He did cramp up a bit, that could be next week, (it's a) big ground in Perth (where the GC SUNS play West Coast), all those sorts of things, so we'll just see how he pulls up.

"He was impressive. Can we get him better? From a development point of view do we teach him more at the second level by dropping him back and playing him where he's got an ability to find more of the footy? That's a decision we have to make. Certainly on tonight's performance it's going to be hard to leave him out."

In the early stages of his career, Hunt's sole focus has been sticking to his opponent to spoil and tackle when the ball is in his area.

Once with the ball, the 24-year-old has looked to handpass to the nearest man more often than not, but that changed at the weekend.

The most notable example was his running forward to mark a cross-field Michael Rischitelli pass, steadying for 10m, then launching his first career goal from just outside the centre square.

He also outmarked Paul Chapman on the wing, and baulked and spun in the middle of the ground to get out of trouble on another occasion.

"He's not complete as an AFL footballer. He's been in the game two minutes," McKenna said.

"He's a very driven individual. He just wants to be a perfectionist. We love having him around, he's fantastic in the group.

"He's been bashed from pillar to post in the media but it doesn't change his attitude about training and how he prepares himself. He's out there to do his best and at times it's going to look ugly, but tonight some of the passages of play it looked like he'd been playing for 50 years. He's certainly moving forward."