Rugby league-Former Wallaby Hunt to return to NRL's Broncos after 12 years

Brisbane Broncos

08/06/2021 10:17

June 8 (Reuters) - Former Wallabies centre Karmichael Hunt
will return to the Brisbane Broncos after 12 years when the
dual-code international plays against the Canberra Raiders in
the National Rugby League (NRL) this weekend, the team announced
on Tuesday. 
    Hunt started his professional career with the Broncos in
2004, winning the NRL championship in 2006 before leaving the
club at the end of the 2009 season.
    He returns to the Brisbane side, who are languishing in the
second-bottom spot in the NRL, as five-eighth. 
    The 34-year-old was capped 11 times for Australia's national
"Kangaroos" rugby league side from 2006-08 but has not played
the game at an elite level since leaving the Broncos.
    After his Broncos exit, Hunt switched to rugby union in a
short-term deal with French side Biarritz before returning to
Queensland to play Australian Rules football for the Gold Coast
Suns in the professional AFL competition from 2011-14.
    He switched back to rugby union to play for Super Rugby side
Queensland Reds and earned six caps with the Wallabies in 2017
as a centre under former coach Michael Cheika.
    A second cocaine-related scandal in three years at
Queensland saw him frozen out by Reds coach Brad Thorn in 2018
but he resumed his career in Sydney the following year after the
Waratahs threw him a lifeline.

 (Reporting by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru
Editing by Robert Birsel)
 ((Manasi.Pathak@thomsonreuters.com;))