By Nick Wright
Less than a year ago, Carter Gordon was earmarked as the Wallabies’ future, thrown into the furnace of Australia’s worst World Cup capitulation in history.
His shock defection to the NRL and the Gold Coast Titans, without any rugby league experience, was engulfed in uncertainty.
Carter Gordon has made an immediate impression since shifting from rugby union to rugby league.Credit: Getty
But his early signs, and an emphatic endorsement from one of the game’s longest-serving champions, appear to have eradicated any lingering concerns.
“He’s been super impressive, I’ve been really impressed with what I’ve seen of him,” Titans halfback Kieran Foran told this masthead.
“For a guy who’s never played rugby league he certainly has a high footy IQ, and he’s going to learn the game fairly quickly.
“It wouldn’t have mattered whether he started off in league or union, he was going to excel in both.”
Gordon, signed from 2025, has embarked on his new venture with the Tweed Seagulls in the Queensland Cup, having been granted a release from rugby when the Melbourne Rebels collapsed.
In his three appearances, two at centre before moving to five-eighth in Sunday’s defeat to the Papua New Guinea Hunters, the 23-year-old has scored a try in each clash, while producing three try assists – one a miraculous two-man cutout pass – and four line-break assists.
It took until his halves debut to miss one tackle, and his running game against a physical Hunters outfit reaped six tackle busts and 83 metres.
Gordon, however, will not be an automatic inclusion when his Titans contract begins.
While coach Des Hasler said centre was an option for him, ultimately his future likely lay in the halves, where Foran has signed on for next year and livewire Jayden Campbell has shown tremendous promise at five-eighth.
“His real work will start in November; on the video I’ve seen he’s competing really well and playing pretty tough,” Hasler said.
“[Centre] is a possibility, he’s got the size and frame, but it’s probably the halves he’s more focused on.”
Gordon will be thrust into a Titans’ logjam that already has Hasler scrambling to include his best attacking weapons.
Fullback Keano Kini’s rise in the injury absence of AJ Brimson has forced the latter to the bench for this week’s clash against the Dragons, with Brian Kelly and Phil Sami commanding the centres.
Despite the eight-Test Wallaby’s pedigree, he will begin as the underdog, but with eyes on becoming Foran’s successor.
And Foran quashed any fears the NRL’s intensity would prevent Gordon from making a rapid transition.
“He’s adaptable, he’s athletic, he’s going to be able to transform into a good rugby league player pretty quickly,” Foran said.
“It’s going to be a shootout for next year. That’s what we want, we wouldn’t want it to be a breeze, we wouldn’t want it to be a walk-up start.
“You’ve got to earn your spot in this team. We’ve created competition for spots, and the better depth you’ve got in your squad the more likely you are to be there at the back end of the year.”