Reds coach Les Kiss, who will take the Wallabies\u2019 reins at the end of the Super Rugby season, has said his No.10 options had the capacity to jump around the backline. Both Gordon and McLaughlin-Phillips were capable of filling in at inside centre, while the latter has also trained at fullback.<\/p>\n
Gordon was immediately thrust into the Test arena for the spring tour at the end of his rugby league days, starting in the 26-19 defeat to Italy. He said his desire to remain close to home \u2013 having grown up on the Sunshine Coast \u2013 fuelled his move to the Reds rather than another club.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is stacked – competition is always good, regardless of what position you play you always want a couple of boys pushing for that role,\u201d Gordon said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love playing 10 and that\u2019s the position I want to play, but whatever is best for the team I\u2019ll follow Les in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lynagh has declared himself fully fit to engage with the Reds\u2019 preseason, having battled hamstring and concussion issues throughout 2025. He has also been managing a back concern since his teenage cricket days \u2013 a stint that included bowling to future England wicket-keeper Jamie Smith.<\/p>\n
While he admits his health concerns were a daunting plight in what had otherwise been \u201cone of the best years of my life\u201d, those experiences would inspire his quest towards becoming the Wallabies\u2019 mainstay five-eighth in time for the 2027 Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the long-term goal, I\u2019m sure it\u2019s the same for everyone in Australia to hold down that jersey \u2013 it\u2019s the ultimate goal. But … you\u2019ve got to play well at Super Rugby first to even be in with a chance,\u201d Lynagh said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a lot of time to work over a few things and get the body right for Super Rugby. That was the whole plan around not going on spring tour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lynagh will be joined in Queensland by younger brother Nic, with the outside back signing a development deal as he mounts a comeback from a turbulent period.<\/p>\n
The 18-year-old has endured the best part of two years on the sidelines after suffering a knee injury, before tearing his right hamstring off the bone shortly after his return.<\/p>\n
Nic admits the shadow of their famous father \u2013 Wallabies great Michael Lynagh \u2013 has hovered over him, but believes he is ready to emulate Tom in forging his own path towards the top.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the youngest brother I feel like I copped it the most. I used to get it on the sidelines – \u2018oh there\u2019s a Lynagh, he\u2019s got to do something\u2019, and there was one story where I got sworn at just for being a Lynagh,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are positives and negatives, but I treat pressure as a privilege and don\u2019t try shy away from it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reds coach Les Kiss, who will take the Wallabies\u2019 reins at the end of the Super Rugby season,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410766,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-410765","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\/410765","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=410765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}