The real reason why the Suns recruited NRL superstar Karmichael Hunt

Inaugural Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna has revealed the reasons behind NRL convert Karmichael Hunt's switch to AFL were multifold.

Karmichael Hunt's shock switch to the Suns raised plenty of eyebrows, and McKenna admitted that he knew it would be a "side show".

But the New Zealand-born athlete proved more than just an off-field distraction throughout his 44 games as an AFL player.

From assisting the expansion club and its draftees in the gym to relieving the pressure on Gold Coast youngsters as another senior body, Hunt more than paid his way as a Sun.

"I had a couple of meetings behind the scenes," McKenna said on Zero Hanger's podcast Hangin' Out.

"I wasn't too keen. Nothing against Karmichael. But the reason I softened was probably because he was another senior body.

"His thighs were massive. I thought he'll be able to take the shine and heat off the boys in the midfield. Get him into stoppages, get him to charge through and bash into blokes, and basically take some energy out of them.

"He was fantastic in the gym to show work ethic.

"I probably thought it was going to be a little bit of a side show as well.

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"But you talk about the cards he could put on the table to play AFL football, and one of them wasn't aerobic. Most AFL players were averaging 12 to 15 kilometres. Karmichael's GPS was like 4.6 kilometres, playing a full game of rugby.

"He went from an anaerobic sport to an aerobic sport. And you've either got one or the other."

Recently departed Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley was one of the main contributors to Hunt in his first two seasons at Gold Coast.

Hinkley, before he took the Power top job, was an assistant to McKenna and was code convert's "first port of call".

"However, one of my regrets was that, because Kenny (Hinkley) was one of my most experienced assistant coaches, I cut him 20 to 30 per cent slack to go look after Karmichael," McKenna admitted.

"It was just Kenny. No one else. Everyone, stay away. Kenny is his first port of call. Did it take away Kenny's time from the full group? Maybe. Would we have won more games? Maybe one or two more."

Hunt was an AFL ambassador during his time at the Suns and contributed more than expected in the six victories he featured in.

And no one can forget his after-the-siren goal against Richmond in Round 16, 2012.