LOCK in Karmichael Hunt for the Reds. Best of all, he will be a worldly wise off-field mentor for the erratic James O’Connor when they team up in the backline next season.

Hunt is a big step closer to wearing the Reds fullback jersey because rugby league’s Gold Coast Titans were told last week he would not be linking with them.

Gold Coast sources say the deal is already done and that Hunt will be training at Ballymore next year after an amicable parting with the Gold Coast Suns after four AFL seasons.

Hunt’s latest code switch makes perfect sense. Jumping into rugby will extend his football life by another four years at least, two at the Reds and an adventure overseas in 2017-18.

Hunt is also a perfect fit for the Reds to fill the void at fullback. He plays with aggression, he can shoot through the defence himself and can make players around him better.

There have been a lot of distracting laments about this failed Reds season from a massive injury toll to woeful defence conceding 52 tries to botched finishing when on the tryline.

Too often overlooked is the Reds not being great passers of the football outside Will Genia and Quade Cooper.

It reached a head last weekend when Jamie-Jerry Taulagi did some good work down the touchline only to throw a no-look pass.

Why exactly he threw a no-look pass in a two-on-one situation is the great mystery because the ball sailed over the touchline when his eyes should have been glued on Lachie Turner.

Hunt is a driven footballer and something more. He would be a first season rookie at the Reds next year but a wonderful leader.

He has the stature to whack O’Connor if he hints at getting out of line off the field which is something contemporaries Cooper and Genia might find harder to enforce.

O’Connor organised a clause in his short term contract with French club Toulon to allow him to be back in Australia on January 1.

A Hunt-O’Connor-Kerevi-Tapuai-F’Sautia-Cooper-Genia backline has a look of real punch for next year.

Parting ways with Biarritz-bound Rod Davies means a real wing speedster must be a priority for the Reds along with that big, brawny backrower who is harder to find than the Yeti.

**

A resourceful ACT Brumbies win over the Chiefs in Canberra tomorrow night would likely create a blockbuster NSW Waratahs-Brumbies semi-final a week later.

The Brumbies have plenty of weapons and not just the obvious ones. They pressure to charge down kicks, they take quick taps, they are gambling more and they have Henry Speight.

They are a far more rounded side than the one that fell in the final last year. Waratahs beware.