Reds boss Les Kiss has revealed that he\u2019s \u201cvery happy\u201d to have overseen the return of the \u201cphysical\u201d Carter Gordon to rugby union, as both club and country look set to benefit from the rebirth of the 24-year-old.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters in Brisbane on Monday, Kiss said: \u201cI think there was always something in Carter\u2019s mind that he\u2019d like to come back one day, but from my perspective, this just accelerated in the last four or five days.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a combined thing in terms of Rugby Australia and Queensland, just getting it to a point to make things work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t involved in that whole process, but as you can imagine, we\u2019re very happy to have Carter coming back to the Reds. We recognised him as a seven-year-old, I think as a school kid, we saw the potential there, and it\u2019s fantastic that he\u2019s coming back home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Injury-ravaged time in the NRL<\/p>\n
Gordon has been contracted to the rugby league side,\u00a0Gold Coast\u00a0<\/a>Titans<\/a>, for the past year, but spent much of his time sidelined with a back injury. Now, returning to the Reds and the resurgent Wallabies, Kiss is hoping to get his new man straight back into the action.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s obviously an opportunity here to get into rugby straight away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the environment that he\u2019s going to be moving into straight away is pretty ideal,\u00a0and don\u2019t forget, I\u2019m not speaking on behalf of Joe here, but we\u2019ve got Tane Edmed there,\u00a0and we\u2019ve also got James O\u2019Connor<\/a> over in the English Premiership that he can call on\u00a0as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Who\u2019s hot and who\u2019s not: Marcus Smith and four-try star hailed while Newcastle Red Bulls and nilled trio struggle<\/a><\/p>\n Not guaranteed a spot<\/p>\n Aware that there\u2019s now plenty of competition for the 10 shirt, which wasn\u2019t the case the last time Gordon<\/a> wore the green and gold of the Wallabies, Kiss acknowledged that the returning star will have to work hard to regain top spot for both club and country.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s excited, as you could imagine, and really looking forward to getting back into it and working hard \u2013 there\u2019s no entitlement there. He just feels he wants to get back and work hard and learn his way, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe one thing about Carter is he\u2019s got a good size about him \u2013 he\u2019s got a good height, he\u2019s robust, he\u2019s physical, and he meets all those things to be able to play what is now a very, very challenging position in the game.<\/p>\n \u201cTens are targeted a lot, and he gives us another quality option to be able to play in that position and balance out how we want to play our game.\u201d<\/p>\n