Hymel Hunt (born 14 November 1993) is a Samoa international rugby league footballer who played as a winger or centre.

Hymel Hunt
Personal information
Born (1993-11-14) 14 November 1993 (age 31)
Auckland, New Zealand
Height191 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Weight99 kg (15 st 8 lb)
Playing information
PositionWing, Centre
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2013 Gold Coast Titans 1 0 0 0 0
2015 Melbourne Storm 3 1 0 0 4
2016–18 South Sydney 43 11 0 0 44
2019–23 Newcastle Knights 66 22 0 0 88
Total 113 34 0 0 136
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2019 Samoa 1 0 0 0 0
Source: [1]
As of 16 September 2023

He previously played for the Gold Coast Titans, Melbourne Storm, South Sydney Rabbitohs and Newcastle Knights in the National Rugby League.

Background

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Hunt was born in Auckland, New Zealand, and is of Samoan descent. He moved to Queensland, Australia at a young age and grew up playing rugby union.

He played his junior rugby league for the Redcliffe Dolphins, before being signed by the Gold Coast Titans.

Hunt is the cousin of Queensland Reds player and former Brisbane Broncos player Karmichael Hunt, and former South Sydney Rabbitohs teammate Kirisome Auva'a.[2][3]

Playing career

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Hunt playing for the Queensland under-20s team in 2012

Early career

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From 2011 to 2013, Hunt played for the Gold Coast Titans' NYC team.[4] On 21 April 2012, he played for the Queensland under-20s team against the New South Wales under-20s team.[5]

2013

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In Round 17 of the 2013 NRL season, Hunt made his NRL debut for the Gold Coast Titans against the Penrith Panthers.[6] In April 2013, he again played for the Queensland under-20s team against the New South Wales under-20s team.[7] On 27 August 2013, he was named at centre in the 2013 NYC Team of the Year.[8] On 21 August 2013, he signed a 1-year contract with the Melbourne Storm starting in 2014.[9] On 13 October 2013, Hunt played for the Junior Kangaroos.[10]

2014

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In 2014, Hunt received a two-match suspension from the NRL after being found to have placed a bet on NRL matches.[11] He re-signed with the Storm for 2015.[12]

2015

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Hunt made his Melbourne debut in Round 14 of the 2015 NRL season against the Parramatta Eels,[13] scoring a try on debut.[14] After the 2015 season, he was released by the Storm.[15] On 20 December, he signed a one-year contract with South Sydney starting in 2016.[16][17]

2016

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In round 1 of the 2016 NRL season, Hunt made his club debut for the South Sydney club against the Sydney Roosters, playing at centre and scoring a try in South Sydney's 42–10 win at the Sydney Football Stadium.[18]

2017

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Hunt had a season plagued by injury in 2017 limiting him to only 12 appearances for the year.[19][20]

2018

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Hunt made 21 appearances for Souths and scored seven tries as the club finished 3rd on the table at the end of the regular season and made it all the way to the preliminary final before being defeated by Sydney Roosters 12–4.[21]

On 12 November, Hunt signed a one-year contract with the Newcastle Knights starting in 2019.[22]

2019

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Hunt made 24 appearances for Newcastle and scored nine tries in the 2019 NRL season as the club missed out on the finals finishing a disappointing 11th place.[23]

2020

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Hunt made 20 appearances for Newcastle and scored eight tries in the 2020 NRL season, as the club made their first finals appearance since 2013 where Newcastle lost 46–20 in week 1 of finals against South Sydney, where Hunt scored two tries in the loss.

Due to his form throughout 2020, Hunt was rewarded with being selected in Queensland 27 man squad, where he played no games in the 2–1 upset series win.

2021

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Hunt played 17 games for Newcastle in the 2021 NRL season including the club's elimination finals loss against Parramatta.[24]

2023

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After playing 66 games for the Knights, Hunt parted ways with the club at the end of the 2023 season.[25]

2024

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On 6 October, Hunt was one of the confirmed players who were honoured at the 2024 NRL retiring players parade.[26]

References

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  1. ^ "Hymel Hunt – Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  2. ^ "Storm close in on Karmichael Hunt's cousin". Heraldsun.com.au. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
  3. ^ "Family a central issue for Hunt". National Rugby League. 21 February 2016. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  4. ^ "Hymel Hunt Player". 2013. Archived from the original on 20 September 2013. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  5. ^ "U20's State of Origin". M.nrl.com. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  6. ^ "The Late Mail: Titans vs Panthers". 6 July 2013. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  7. ^ "Under 20's Origin squads named". National Rugby League. Archived from the original on 29 June 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  8. ^ "2013 Holden Cup Team of the Year". National Rugby League. 27 August 2013. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  9. ^ "Storm hunts down more young guns". 21 August 2013. Archived from the original on 31 December 2013. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  10. ^ "Junior Kangaroos team named". National Rugby League. 7 October 2013. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  11. ^ NRL to look at injury disclosure after gambling suspensions Theage.com.au, 10 July 2014
  12. ^ "Storm wishes Easts good luck – Storm". Melbournestorm.com.au. 26 September 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
  13. ^ "Late mail: Round 14 – Storm". Melbournestorm.com.au. 15 June 2015. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
  14. ^ "Storm fall agonisingly short – Storm". Melbournestorm.com.au. 15 June 2015. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
  15. ^ "Wayne Bennett Signs Dragons Backrower; Bulldogs Outside Back Re-Signs". The Daily Telegraph. Sydney. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
  16. ^ "Burgess officially cleared for Rabbitohs return | NRL". Zero Tackle. 29 September 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2015.[permanent dead link]
  17. ^ "The 12 Players in NRL Limbo Just Three Months Out From 2016 Season". Fox Sports. Australia. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  18. ^ "Reynolds, Sutton injured as Bunnies smash Roosters". National Rugby League. 6 March 2016. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  19. ^ "Hymel Hunt". Rabbitohs. Archived from the original on 4 December 2017.
  20. ^ Ferguson, Shawn Dollin and Andrew. "Custom Match List – Rugby League Project". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  21. ^ Ferguson, Shawn Dollin and Andrew. "Custom Match List – Rugby League Project". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  22. ^ "Team comes first for benched Rabbitohs duo". 14 September 2018. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  23. ^ "Newcastle Knights begin new era as mass exodus hits club after disappointing 2019". wwos.nine.com.au. 18 September 2019.
  24. ^ "Parramatta Eels defeat Newcastle Knights 28-20 in NRL elimination final". Australia: ABC News. 12 September 2021.
  25. ^ "Kalyn Ponga claims 2023 Danny Buderus Medal". Newcastle Knights. 5 September 2023.
  26. ^ Writer, Staff (6 October 2024). "NRL to honour retiring players". National Rugby League. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
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