The conundrum new Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt faces with Carter Gordon could not have been starker at AAMI Park on Friday night.
The breakout Australian star of last year's Super Rugby Pacific season, Gordon went on to make his Wallabies debut under Eddie Jones before he was later cast aside at the Rugby World Cup, and ultimately departed the tournament early with a leg injury.
Gordon insists the roller coaster experiences from last year will be a blessing as he looks to impress Schmidt, who got a first-hand look at Gordon, his Rebels teammates and the Force's Wallabies' hopefuls, as the Melbourne outfit rode a stirring second-half comeback to run out 48-34 winners in the second game of an engrossing Super Round.
But it was a two-minute sequence after halftime that revealed the Jekyll-and-Hyde sides of Gordon, who will be among Schmidt's options at fly-half this season ahead of Wales' visit in July.
At the 54-minute mark, Gordon lined up a conversion from just two metres right of the posts. A regulation shot, then? Not if you're Gordon, unfortunately, who hooked his kick into the left-hand upright to the collective groans of the 10,000+ opening night crowd.
But Gordon didn't have to wait long to redeem himself, the Rebels fly-half picking off Ben Donaldson, a likely rival for the Wallabies No. 10 jersey, for an intercept and an 80-metre sprint to the tryline. After the miss only moments earlier, it was no surprise to see Jake Strachan step up and take the conversion and then retain the kicking duties for the remainder of the match thereafter.
An unforgivable miss one moment, a piece of individual brilliance the next. Gordon is hardly the first young player -- he is still just 23 -- to suffer these personality traits, but when Schmidt comes to name his side to face Wales in four months' time, it's inevitable goal-kicking will be a factor.
And it was this exact situation that forced Jones into a backline reshuffle in France, when he overlooked Andrew Kellaway at fullback because of the need to shore up Australia's goal-kicking, paving the way for Ben Donaldson's inclusion.
Coincidentally, Kellaway and Gordon combined brilliantly for the Rebels on multiple occasions on Friday night. First the No. 10 showed his kicking skills from hand with a deft left-footed cross kick that sat up perfectly for his fullback, who ran clear and found Strachan back on the inside. Moments later, the No. 10 grabbed the first of his two tries.
On the other side of the break, after a succession of dominant scrums, Gordon switched back down the short side once more and put Kellaway over in the corner. Two big plays that brought two key tries, to go with his second-half intercept that almost singlehandedly crushed the Force's spirit.
Gordon can clearly play, and Rebels coach Kevin Foote insists there has been no World Cup hangover for Gordon, that his star No. 10 has simply just gotten back to work.
"He's been incredible, but Rob and the leadership team around have got such confidence in him," Rebels coach Kevin Foote said of Gordon after Friday night's win. "So when we have our leaders meeting, Carter's the only back in that meeting, and they just tell him 'this is your show now, you just give us direction and we back you in it'.
"So when you've got Robbie Leota, Lukhan [Salakaia-Loto], Sam Talakai, Josh Kemeny and Brad Wilkin telling you 'you're our guy', I think that gives a lot of confidence. And I think Kels [Kellaway] supported him really well tonight, from the back, and that combination is really important for us.
"Carter hasn't come back with anything from the World Cup in my opinion, he's obviously quite a stoic guy and he just wants to crack on to rugby now."
When you consider Gordon's resolute defence, there are few doubts that he has the game to play Test rugby. But without significant improvement in his accuracy from the tee, goal-kicking is going to remain a his Achilles heel, and potentially force Schmidt into making a decision he may not want to elsewhere along the backline, as it was for Jones in France.
Meanwhile, a beautiful first-half line break and eventual five-pointer highlighted Kellaway's class at the back, the 28-year-old showcasing both his vision and finishing skills in a fine performance that will have him firmly in Schmidt's thinking for the No. 15 jersey later this year.
While he was pushed to the wing to accommodate Strachan once Matt Proctor was forced off with injury, Kellaway is most dangerous at fullback where he can scan the field for opportunities and not be confined to one side of the pitch.
Just two weeks into Super Rugby Pacific for 2024, 13 further intriguing rounds await as Schmidt learns more and more about the playing cohort and who, if anyone, he feels it necessary to bring back from overseas.
"It's nice and blank, and a little bit dauntingly blank, because you like to have a bit of continuity," Schmidt told Stan Sport at halftime of the Waratahs' shock win over the Crusaders, the Kiwi asked how his metaphorical player canvas was looking.
"And I'm sure there will be some continuity but at the same time we've got to take a big step from where things finished up at the World Cup, and some of what I've seen this weekend is part of that."
"I'm not pencilling names in, but I'm certainly taking notice.
"There [are] some guys who've gone really well, we talked about Tane [Edmed] briefly; but there are guys like [Hugh] Sinclair and others, who are unsung guys, who have done really well tonight as well. And we saw some both sides of the ball in the Force-Rebels game last night -- it's been four really good [Super Round] games so far."