Gavin Hunt happy to see City surfing as he finds his bearings at first Durban club

Gavin Hunt doesn’t miss an opportunity to explain what a monumental task it was to take over the reins at the newly promoted Durban City three weeks before the start of the 2025-26 campaign.

The veteran, four-time Premiership winner, more used to coaching clubs with more resources and pedigree, has taken up his first coaching job in Durban in his three-decade career.

Hunt emphasises the scale of the recruitment of new players to beef up the squad and technical team before the start of the season.

“I was surprised with the squad they had last year. The mentality was good — any coach will tell you when you have players with a good mentality, it’s much easier. The understanding of what you’re trying to do is there,” said Hunt of the players he found at City.

There was also a lot of talk about the ‘meeting of the two bulls at the same kraal’ of Hunt and journeyman coach Ernst Middendorp, who was appointed by City owner Farook Kadodia as sporting director ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.

The pundits immediately predicted that mixing the two veteran coaches — neither known for a diplomatic approach and Middendorp especially with a reputation for cantankerousness — would never work. Three months into the season the German has left. Hunt is a former defender, but he sidestepped that topic like a nifty striker.

“Let’s talk about the game rather, sorry,” was his reply when asked why Middendorp had left.

The recruitment of players in positions that worried Hunt did carry on at the club formerly known as Maritzburg United before they opted to leave KwaZulu-Natal’s capital Pietermaritzburg. They lost the support of the Msunduzi Municipality after being relegated in 2022-2023. Before this campaign started, Hunt managed to bring in a decent number of the new and experienced players he was targeting.

Among those were goalkeeper Darren Keet and midfielders Thabo Nodada, Haashim Domingo, Taahir Goedeman and South Africa Under-20 captain Patrick Autata, all from relegated Cape Town City; defender Fezile Gcaba from Richards Bay, left-back Terrence Mashego from Mamelodi Sundowns (loan), and midfielder Brooklyn Poggenpoel from SuperSport United.

Some of these players have already played a critical part in ensuring Hunt’s team settle as quickly as they can in the tough environment of the top flight, with the situation requiring seamless adaptation from everyone.

Hunt is pleased with the outcome, with City winning three of their first six Betway Premiership matches, drawing one and losing two, including a last-gasp 1-0 defeat away to neighbours AmaZulu on Saturday.

City play one of the biggest games this coming Saturday against their other KwaZulu-Natal neighbours, Richards Bay, at Richards Bay Stadium in eMhlathuze in the Carling Knockout Cup quarterfinals. They reached the last eight with an impressive 4-1 victory over Chippa United where Gcaba scored a marvellous hat-trick, despite playing in defence.

Given the combination of the players who helped promote City last season and those recently acquired, Hunt said he’s happy with a manageable squad of just over 20 and would like to keep it that way for as long as possible.

“We obviously have one or two Diski [under-23 team] players training with us. But it’s important to keep a small tight unit and not have a big squad.

“That’s important for us to have what we’ve got and it can see us through to the next window,” said Hunt, whose own coaching career looked uncertain after his previous club SuperSport United — his longest employer in two stints in a 30-year top-flight coaching career — was sold towards the end of last season.

Such has been the form of players like Gcaba that Hunt doesn’t rule out that they will catch the eye of Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos with the Africa Cup of Nations around the corner in Morocco in January and December and the 2026 Fifa World Cup in June and July next year.

“I think in the next seven or eight months anything can happen to our players. If they have good performances from now until the end of the year, I think anybody can [be called up].

“The last few squads that they’ve picked [where Bafana regulars were missing because of injuries], there’s been some players called up out of the blue.”

Having as many as three provincal Premiership neighbours in AmaZulu, Lamontville Golden Arrows and Richards Bay suits City, who Hunt believes will benefit from less travelling outside KwaZulu-Natal.

“It certainly helps the Durban teams in my opinion. It was the same when there were four teams in Cape Town ― they played each other often. But now Stellenbosch are playing all their away games far away from home and have to get on flights. It does take a lot out of you.”

Another big test for Hunt and City comes soon ― they host Kaizer Chiefs at Chatsworth Stadium on October 31 in their next league match.

The coach has always enjoyed getting one over all the Soweto giants and a win against former employers Amakhosi would not just be satisfying to Hunt, but another confidence boost to City as they find their feet in the topflight.