Sam Hunt has some new tricks up his sleeve and some new-found confidence in himself.For the first time in a while, Hunt can talk about footy without the hesitation and self-doubt that has hindered him.As a tall defender, he's wrestled opposition forwards for years, but realised after a watershed VFL finals campaign last season, that the real battle all along was within himself."I am pretty critical of myself, I always look at the negative side of things, which is why I guess I am a confidence player," Hunt, 23, said."But the last few games of the season and in finals I developed a lot more confidence in my game and started to run and have a bounce."And soon I realised I could take blokes on and beat them and just kept on doing it and obviously the club likes me doing that."In Hunt, Geelong saw an ideal springboard forward and rewarded the 193cm backman's new found dash and dare a with rookie elevation to the senior list.Now, feeling as fit as ever, after seven senior games in five years at Essendon, Hunt is desperate to complete his AFL apprenticeship with more regular senior action this season, starting with the NAB Cup."I learned a lot at the Bombers about how to live playing AFL and training and the game, but I don't think I got the rewards I would have liked to in terms of senior games," he said."I always seemed to be the 23rd player but came along to Geelong, which I supported as a kid, and have learned a lot more about how to play in the back-line and a few new tricks off Brendan McCartney."He's been great but all the coaches seem to give me a lot more confidence down here."The turning point, somewhat surprisingly, was an awful-looking leg injury mid last year.He crashed to the turf during a training mishap, which, instead of bringing his roller-coasted career to an inconspicuous end, in fact primed him for one last-ditch effort."I went away from that working so hard because the quicker I got back the more chance I had of playing some reasonable footy before finals," he said. "I wouldn't say it was a blessing in disguise but it did refresh me a little bit."It paid off when Hunt, shivering with uncertainty in a meeting with Mark Thompson, was told of his rookie upgrade on the last day of the Cats' UK tour, after a handy game the day before against Port Adelaide.“I was a little bit, not shocked, but I was 50-50 on what was going to happen," he said."But I was rapt to hear him say that he was confident I could play good senior footy and now I'm just looking forward to getting into it again."His work at training has already impressed in hope of a permanent role assisting regular senior defensive types like Matthew Scarlett and Darren Milburn."I think I've done an extended apprenticeship now and it's probably about time I played some more senior footy, got a chance and took it," he said. "Because I reckon I'm ready physically and mentally to have a good crack at it."