Gavin's class act

Gavin Hunt slouched on the pillar of one of the floodlights at Bidvest Stadium on Friday morning watching the new Absa Premiership champions train.

The injured Phakamani Mahlambi took over Hunt's job, relegating the coach to a spectator. Mahlambi barked instructions and strolled around the technical area like his coach normally does.

Former Bafana Bafana defender Bongani Khumalo was a centre forward, scoring a brilliant goal in a match that saw goalkeepers Darren Keet and Moeneeb Josephs playing in-field, while Thulani Hlatshwayo got a chance to show off his ball skills.

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His Bidvest Wits teammates laughed when they saw the defender dance with the ball. But what made them laugh even louder was seeing "Tyson" on the receiving end of a crunching tackle when the tough defender got a taste of his own medicine. Being champions with a game to spare has its benefits. It allows even the hard-to-please Hunt to loosen up a little bit.

The players made the most of that free reign, fully aware that it won't last. Hunt will still demand that they give their all against Kaizer Chiefs on Saturday even though Hlatshwayo is guaranteed to become the first Wits captain to lift the league trophy in the club's 96-year history.

"If I am easily pleased then I must retire," Hunt said. "I enjoy the moment for an hour or two and then it's back to business. On the night we won the league (on Wednesday), I pulled the CEO (Jose Ferreira) aside and we had a long chat about players. I told him where we need to go and what we need to do. He was like, 'easy, easy, easy'. I told him that there is no 'easy, easy, easy'. That's what we need to do. We must strike now while the iron is hot. Don't waste time. When you're winning you need to make sure that you are bringing in what you need to keep that success going."

That thinking is behind Hunt winning the league three times in a row with SuperSport United from 2008 to 2010.

"If I kept my SuperSport team together, we would have won the league six times in a row," Hunt said without a sense of bragging.

Retaining the league twice with Matsatsantsa a Pitori was big, but doing so after losing key players almost every season made it even bigger. He is unlikely to experience that exodus at the Clever Boys because of the financial muscle of Bidvest and the club's ambition of slugging it out with the big boys. So with that said, how many times can Wits retain the trophy that the club almost waited a century to finally grace their cabinet?

"I don't know. This team still worries me. My SuperSport United team that won the second league ran by itself. I just polished it a bit, patched it a bit and unleashed it. It's like a racehorse. You take good care of it and let it go.

"That team, with the (Brent) Carelses of this world, ran by itself. Once it changed and the players went, then I had to change it. This team here, it still needs a lot of guidance. It still needs a lot of work. It needs feeding and polishing. I will give them that. Once I feel that we can let it go, then who knows where it can go."

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Hunt gushed at the club's attack at the start of the season, describing it as the best that he has had in his four years in Milpark. That attack had everything, pace from Phakamani Mahlambi and Gabadinho Mhango. Aerial strength from Eleazar Rodgers. A tireless workhorse in James Keene. Cuthbert Malajila the poacher.

Wits had quality across all departments. The numerous injuries they suffered put that quality to the test and they responded well. But talent alone isn't enough. Mamelodi Sundowns pre-Pitso Mosimane can attest to that. That's why Hunt constantly pushes his players, clashing with a number of them in the process. The common goal of lifting the elusive trophy kept the peace. But the clashes he had with his players were different to the one he experienced as a player.

"I played in a very cruel, violent and dominating environment," Hunt said. "We grew up like that. It made us strong physically and mentally. I was once smacked in the dressing room. I got smacked by my captain. I was a young boy coming into the team. He hit me for back-chatting him. Maybe we should have that a little bit more in our environment. It taught me to keep my mouth shut and prove them wrong on the field.

"Believe you me in the second half after that I was the best player on the field. In our days there were punch-ups. We were used to physical punch-ups, players rolling on the floor and going up to fight like it's nobody's business in the second half. It shapes you. Today people say, 'oh he is putting me under too much pressure'. If you are under too much pressure go gardening, knitting or walk the dogs somewhere. Don't play professional sport."

Hunt doesn't read much into joining Ted Dumitru and Gordon Igesund as the only coaches who have won the league four times.

Obviously he is ambitious but the milestones he wants to reach are far more personal.

The sight of the room where he keeps his mementos keeps him going.

"I see it and I think, oh shit there is still some space on the wall there. There isn't much space left but there is space and I want to fill it. Sometimes I sit in there and take it all in, read all the write-ups and just marvel at them.

"It keeps the motivation and the hunger. It reminds me where I started, where I have been and where I want to go."

ngidin@sundaytimes.co.za