Hunt
selection has raised more than a few eyebrows

The Australian selectors have chosen Brisbane Broncos fullback Karmichael Hunt as the standby player for Anthony Minichiello as Minichiello races the clock to overcome a hamstring injury. Hunt has been rushed to Sydney to train with the Kangaroos ahead of Friday night's test match against the Kiwis at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.

Is the selection of Broncos fullback Karmichael Hunt a belated April Fool?s day joke and the Australian selectors have merely got the months wrong?

This issue could really turn into a Pandora?s box with the number of angles this ?interesting? selection can be taken from.

Hunt is nowhere near the second best fullback in the NRL and without wanting to be disrespectful to Karmichael Hunt, his selection reeks of tokenism to douse the flames on the war of words between Australian coach Ricky Stuart and Wayne Bennett, Hunt?s club coach in Brisbane and the former Australian coach.

What more does Matt Bowen have to do to get an Australian jersey? On form, he is streets ahead of Hunt and when you consider Hunt should really be playing for New Zealand regardless of his desire to play Origin for the Maroons, his selection is all the more puzzling.

There is also the fact only three out of the 17 players selected are Queenslanders in the Australian side and that has left more than a few fans north of the border seeing red over the dominance of New South Wales players in the Australian team. Being a New South Welshman, I can empathise with their frustrations but truth be known, I think the selectors essentially chose the right 17 players.

When you browse the 15 Australian based NRL teams, I?m not sure where Karmichael Hunt ranks in your list but in mine, he is outside the top five. Taking Billy Slater?s suspension and Brett Hodgson?s injury into account, Matt Bowen, Brett Stewart, Milton Thaiday and Ben Hornby all had stronger claims to the role of understudy to Anthony Minichiello. Even Melbourne Storm sensation Greg Inglis would be in front of Hunt as his form has been nothing short of superb and with the Australian team being no stranger to playing quality players out of position, players such as Amos Roberts would also have claims.

At the end of the day, I don?t want the selection of Hunt to detract from the aura of the Test match, which should be a cracking game played in front of a full house but I can?t help but feel politics more so than form played the major part in the selection of Karmichael Hunt as the 18th man for the Kangaroos.