Hlatshwayo hails Hunt for helping revive his career

SuperSport United defender Thulani Hlatshwayo has detailed how he revived his career under coach Gavin Hunt this season.

Hlatshwayo joined SuperSport at the beginning of the season for free after he left Orlando Pirates, where he had a frustrating spell. When he joined the Tshwane side, his confidence was low after coming from an emotionally taxing period at the Buccaneers. 

"Coming here I wanted to enjoy the game and to revive my career. Gavin, someone who knows me and who I've done a lot of good things with, helped me a lot," Hlatshwayo explained after he was named SuperSport player of the year.

"I think those training sessions [are] what I needed... I was able to revive my career because of the sessions, the training regime I know from Hunt and that's what has made me who I am when I was with him at Bidvest Wits."

The 33-year-old went on to make 23 appearances and scored one goal in the DStv Premiership after signing a one-year deal.

Following his performances, the club opted to give him another one-year contract.

"I'm happy with the season I had, even though I had a concussion at one stage and I was out for a month. But with the number of games that I played, I'm content and if I were to give a reflection I would say I'm happy with it," he said.

"But it could have been a better season for us if you look at the games that we played and the number of chances that we didn't take. Looking back to the Chippa United match (1-1 draw) [Thamsanqa] Gabuza, having that chance in the last minute. Marumo Gallants (0-0), Bradley [Grobler] missing the penalty.

"Then you look at all those games and where we would have been as a team [had we won].

"You also look at the stability of the team, me being injured and also TT [Thatayaone Ditlhokwe] struggling with his hamstring. [I am] not saying the other guys could not do the job, but having that core of the team we had at the start of the season could have been better."