BREAKING NEWS: Karmichael Hunt defects to AFL!!!

Brisbane rugby league star Karmichael Hunt is switching to play AFL in a move which will rock the NRL to its foundations.

In an unprecedented cross-code switch, Hunt is to announce this morning that he is signing with the new Gold Coast franchise which joins the AFL competition in 2011.

He will begin his new career with the Gold Coast franchise next year, with the club most likely to play in the VFL competition.

It will be the first time a rugby league international has switched to play Australian Rules.

The move will intensify the fierce turf war between the strongest football codes in Australia, with rugby league in danger of suffering further raids on its most talented players, especially if Hunt makes a successful transition.

Fellow Test players Greg Inglis, Billy Slater and Israel Folau are other obvious targets for AFL clubs.

Hunt played some Australian Rules as a schoolboy in Brisbane, attracting the attention of Queensland AFL scouts, before joining the Broncos as a 17-year-old in 2004.

The Auckland-born full-back has since played 10 State of Origin matches for Queensland and 11 Tests for Australia.

With Hunt's contract with the Broncos up at the end of the 2009 NRL season, the 22-year-old's future has been a hot topic in recent months.

He knocked back a $1.2 million three-year deal from the Broncos earlier this year and his manager David Riolo has been overseas looking at his options.

There had been speculation he could move to Japan to play rugby, but Hunt will make his shock code-switch announcement at a media conference on the Gold Coast at 10.30am.