{"id":355163,"date":"2025-12-18T02:32:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T02:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/355163\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T02:32:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T02:32:08","slug":"gordon-on-reds-stacked-fly-half-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/355163\/","title":{"rendered":"Gordon on Reds\u2019 \u2018stacked\u2019 fly-half battle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Carter Gordon is embracing the fierce battle for the starting spot at the Queensland Reds<\/a> ahead of the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> season, with three representative fly-halves also in the running for the No. 10 jersey.<\/p>\n

Gordon signed with Rugby Australia<\/a> and the Queensland Rugby Union before the Wallabies departed for their Spring Tour. The Wallaby returned to the Test arena for the first time since Men\u2019s Rugby World Cup<\/a> 2023 when Australia faced Italy<\/a> in Udine.<\/p>\n

Injury prevented Gordon from suiting up in other Spring Tour fixtures, but the playmaker is raring to go ahead of Super Rugby. The code-hopper is by no means a guarantee to start for the Reds, though, with a \u201cstacked\u201d squad giving coach Les Kiss some tough selection calls to make.<\/p>\n

Tom Lynagh started all three Lions<\/a> Series matches for the Wallabies as the first-choice 10, before the playmaker\u2019s season was cut short during The Rugby Championship. Harry McLaughlin-Phillips recently represented Australia A<\/a> and is also in Queensland\u2019s squad.<\/p>\n

Another big-name recruit for the Reds is Flying Fijians first-five Ben Volavola<\/a>, who could become eligible for the Wallabies within the next 12 months. Gordon\u2019s primary position is fly-half, but the former Gold Coast Titan has kept the door open for a change if that\u2019s what Kiss wants.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is stacked and the rest of the team is stacked as well. It\u2019s exciting,\u201d Gordon told reporters in Brisbane this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompetition\u2019s always good, regardless of what position you play, you always want to have a couple of boys working hard for that role because we all push each other and it\u2019s better, not just for the individual but for the team as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re chasing, we\u2019re chasing success in every area.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love playing 10 and that\u2019s the position I want to play but whatever\u2019s best for the team,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll follow Les [Kiss] in so whatever he wants then I\u2019m happy to do whatever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gordon debuted for the Wallabies ahead of the 2023 Rugby World Cup and quickly became the team\u2019s first-choice No. 10 under coach Eddie Jones. The Queenslander made three appearances during the tournament, including starts against Georgia<\/a> and Fiji.<\/p>\n

Two years on, Gordon made a headline-grabbing return to the international rugby arena when the Wallabies faced Italy during the Quilter Nations Series. The 24-year-old scored a try during a 54-minute shift before he was replaced.<\/p>\n

Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt used several fly-halves during the team\u2019s 15-Test international season in 2025, starting with Noah Lolesio<\/a> against Japan. Lynagh, Ben Donaldson<\/a>, James O\u2019Connor and Tane Edmed<\/a> also had their chances to impress.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was massive. Just getting back in with the boys and getting familiar with the coaches and the systems and how everyone\u2019s operating was massive for me,\u201d Gordon reflected.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t get to play too much, just got the one game, but I pretty much got to train the whole tour and that was massive for me, just getting back in, reigniting everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s put me in a good spot moving into \u201926.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carter Gordon is embracing the fierce battle for the starting spot at the Queensland Reds ahead of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-355163","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}