Michael Gordon is desperate to wear the Panthers No.1 jumper – but he denies missing out on the fullback spot for Penrith’s NRL season opener will force him out of the club.
Gordon will line up on the wing against Canterbury on Saturday night after Lachlan Coote was preferred at fullback by new coach Ivan Cleary.
Reports surfaced during the pre-season that Godron would walk out on the club at the end of the season if not given a crack at the fullback role, but the former NSW winger admits he has little say when it comes to selection.
“It’s pretty hard to make demands like that,” Gordon said of issuing the club with an ultimatum.
“Even if another club comes and says ‘we want you to come and play fullback’, there’s no guarantees.
“They could have a young kid that comes through and kills it then, all of a sudden, you’re playing wing again.
“I prefer playing fullback but Cootey’s a specialist fullback … round one, it wasn’t in the best interests me playing there.”
Gordon said he wouldn’t give up on trying to change Cleary’s mind, but admitted what he wanted and what was reality were not always the same.
“I wanted to be an astronaut too but that didn’t work out,” Gordon offered.
“He (Cleary) knows that I want to play fullback and Cootey wants to play fullback.”
Cleary said the selection was a difficult one, particularly with futures possibly riding on his call.
“There’s a lot of decisions you need to make – some are easier than others,” Cleary said.
“That one was certainly a hard one.
“Everyone understands who’s in and who’s out and why.
“We pick a team each week that we think is going to give us the best chance to win the game and that’s what we’ve done this week.”
Coote acknowledged he was fortunate to get the nod, particularly given Gordon’s sparkling form in the position early last year.
The level of those performances continued when he made his return from a knee reconstruction during the trials, leaving Coote – himself returning from a long injury layoff – fretting over his role in the team.
“I was doubting myself a bit there in the trials when he was scoring tries left, right and centre,” Coote said.
“I’m happy that he’s (Cleary) given me the chance to prove myself during the year – hopefully I can do that.”
Both players were also confident their friendship would outlast the positional tussle, though some of their team-mates had jokingly been hoping it would see them come to blows.
“Everyone kept saying we’re going to get a little ring of death going and we were going to fight it out,” Gordon said.
“I’m glad it didn’t come to that – he probably would have flogged me.”