Aussie Player Exodus

[Wilson]

Gordon has just had surgery for his back, you imagine that's him done for the season.

Surely we can match the Titans offer, he wouldn't be on that much.

Probably comes down to a question of if the tahs or Brumbies want to take the punt on his back healing properly. No one else is really in need of young 10s at the moment. I wouldn't be amazed if Mason choosing medical retirement hasn't put both him and some teams in two minds about it either.

On the plus side if he's set on playing on he might be less concerned about where he ends up then he was post Rebels

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

I'd like to see him back to have a crack. He's 24 so coming into the best part of his career. Hard part is the landscape for 10s atm.

Reds and Force have their guy. Brumbies spoken of with Edmed but Meredith also looks more than capable of starting but Larkham must see something in Tane. That leaves the Tahs. Creighton is serviceable, Bowen not really given a run to prove anything yet so it'd be a risk to a sign a bloke who would expect to start and you'd also expect him to given he is a Wallaby 10 but coming off playing bugger all footy in League for 2 years

That's why I wonder if a deal in a lower tier Japanese league is the simple option.

Does RA chip in for a guy like Carter? It's a hard one. There's a big part of me would rather RA offer a chunk for a guy like Isaac Lucas. If Carter wants back he can come back.

 

[Dctarget]

Does RA chip in for a guy like Carter? It's a hard one. There's a big part of me would rather RA offer a chunk for a guy like Isaac Lucas. If Carter wants back he can come back.

Carter would be 3rd best flyhalf immediately if he came next year. I'd happily take Isaac too if it's an option. Carter would be a great fit at the Brumbies under Bernie. Match made in heaven.

 

[Wilson]

Carter would be 3rd best flyhalf immediately if he came next year.

Injury aside, his place kicking remains a massive handbrake on his chances at higher honours - without another kicker emerging in the Wallabies it's hard to see him getting many opportunities at 10. With Henry looking less and less likely of kicking on, Sua'ali'i and Lonergan look like the only possibilities, but they'd need to take their jersey in their own right (Lonergan's issue) and be kicking regularly themselves through the super season (Sua'ali'i's issue). Obviously Gordon could improve his own kicking to fix this, but I imagine his recovery means he's going to have to be careful about his training load and it'll probably take more than a season for him to get his kicking where it needs to be.

He might have a bit more opportunity as a utility though, particularly if he can spend some time at 12.

 

[Major Tom]

Injury aside, his place kicking remains a massive handbrake on his chances at higher honours - without another kicker emerging in the Wallabies it's hard to see him getting many opportunities at 10. With Henry looking less and less likely of kicking on, Sua'ali'i and Lonergan look like the only possibilities, but they'd need to take their jersey in their own right (Lonergan's issue) and be kicking regularly themselves through the super season (Sua'ali'i's issue). Obviously Gordon could improve his own kicking to fix this, but I imagine his recovery means he's going to have to be careful about his training load and it'll probably take more than a season for him to get his kicking where it needs to be.

He might have a bit more opportunity as a utility though, particularly if he can spend some time at 12.

I do acknowledge he could improve in that facet. But you could always treat him like Larkham. Surely we can find someone else to kick for goals each week. Our problem is we're always trying to find the perfect 10 rather than realizing all options come with weaknesses in some of their game.
E.g. Lynagh very good kick but too small or Noah very organised doesn't kick long enough.

 

[Braveheart81]

I do acknowledge he could improve in that facet. But you could always treat him like Larkham. Surely we can find someone else to kick for goals each week. Our problem is we're always trying to find the perfect 10 rather than realizing all options come with weaknesses in some of their game.
E.g. Lynagh very good kick but too small or Noah very organised doesn't kick long enough.

We did in the 2023 RWC by putting Donaldson at fullback so he could kick goals.

Then Gordon's form dipped so it was very easy to drop him and just play Donaldson at 10.

I don't think this issue is going to go away for Gordon. If his kicking isn't good enough that we need another player to kick for goals it's always going to make Gordon's position in a side tenuous. The only way he gets around that is if a first choice player in another position is a test level goal kicker. As it stands we don't have that.

 

[Strewthcobber]

 

[Major Tom]

We did in the 2023 RWC by putting Donaldson at fullback so he could kick goals.

Then Gordon's form dipped so it was very easy to drop him and just play Donaldson at 10.

I don't think this issue is going to go away for Gordon. If his kicking isn't good enough that we need another player to kick for goals it's always going to make Gordon's position in a side tenuous. The only way he gets around that is if a first choice player in another position is a test level goal kicker. As it stands we don't have that.

Yeah, I get that. But in back him to improve his goalkicking than growing Lynagh or getting more distance on Noah's kick. Anyways, still like to see him running around in rugby. And it couldn't hurt looking at others to kick (Wright, JAS, Daugunu etc)

 

[Wilson]

We did in the 2023 RWC by putting Donaldson at fullback so he could kick goals.

Then Gordon's form dipped so it was very easy to drop him and just play Donaldson at 10.

I don't think this issue is going to go away for Gordon. If his kicking isn't good enough that we need another player to kick for goals it's always going to make Gordon's position in a side tenuous. The only way he gets around that is if a first choice player in another position is a test level goal kicker. As it stands we don't have that.

Yeah, you can work around if Gordon is clearly the best in the position, but it has to be a pretty clear difference to compromise another position. He's certainly not helped by the fact that our 10s this year have been excellent off the tee, pretty much across the board.

 

[Dctarget]

I think we're being a bit stubborn here, flyhalf has been a position of weakness for a decade for us. Gordon has demonstrated that he has a huge ceiling and he's deficient in areas that are more trainable than his existing strengths over his competitors. I don't think we have such riches in flyhalves that we can't offer him a starting super jersey. We have Lynagh, Donaldson and who? Neither are complete and what happens if Lynagh goes down with an injury? I'd rather Gordon off the bench than Edmed or Meredith.

 

[Braveheart81]

I think we're being a bit stubborn here, flyhalf has been a position of weakness for a decade for us. Gordon has demonstrated that he has a huge ceiling and he's deficient in areas that are more trainable than his existing strengths over his competitors. I don't think we have such riches in flyhalves that we can't offer him a starting super jersey. We have Lynagh, Donaldson and who? Neither are complete and what happens if Lynagh goes down with an injury? I'd rather Gordon off the bench than Edmed or Meredith.

I don't think there should really be Rugby Australia money on the table though and then that presumably makes it difficult to bring him back unless he really doesn't get anything from the Titans or elsewhere in the NRL.

 

[Dctarget]

I don't think there should really be Rugby Australia money on the table though and then that presumably makes it difficult to bring him back unless he really doesn't get anything from the Dolphins or elsewhere in the NRL.

How many people get RA money? 20? 30? Would he be in a Wallaby squad? Probably..

 

[Strewthcobber]

Sending hope and well wishes his way, but CG has just had spinal surgery after not being able to run for 3 months.

I wouldn't be offering any sort of contract until we see what the outcome of that is, which may not be resolved for many months yet - well into the time that he will be hoping to have another contract, and when RA's plans for next year will likely be pretty well sorted too

 

[Slim 293]

How many people get RA money? 20? 30? Would he be in a Wallaby squad? Probably..

I’m not convinced he would, unless he transforms into a ball playing 12.

 

[Ignoto]

View attachment 21902

From what I've been told, trying to "plug" / fix this type of problem is extremely difficult and a lot of Docs won't sign off on Carter playing rugby again.

 

[Dctarget]

From what I've been told, trying to "plug" / fix this type of problem is extremely difficult and a lot of Docs won't sign off on Carter playing rugby again.

Poor bloke, hope the Gordons have interests elsewhere.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Poor bloke, hope the Gordons have interests elsewhere.

Their heads scream selling overpriced suburban houses.

 

[Braveheart81]

Their heads scream selling overpriced suburban houses.

You could argue that the move to the Gold Coast Titans was merely the stepping stone to being a Gold Coast real estate agent.

 

[Ignoto]

You could argue that the move to the Gold Coast Titans was merely the stepping stone to being a Gold Coast real estate agent.

There's already one REA on the GC with blonde hair and a barge arse;

 

[Major Tom]

From what I've been told, trying to "plug" / fix this type of problem is extremely difficult and a lot of Docs won't sign off on Carter playing rugby again.

Yikes. Can't see him playing either game anytime soon