Queensland Reds centre Josh Flook signs with Benetton as Isaac Henry re-signs
“I think it was the knee that was the most traumatic. I tried to get better than I was before the injury and I felt like I did that.”
“Then I buckled down and it threw my world into a little bit of shock and chaos. But looking back now, I’m so grateful and lucky for that because I learned an incredible amount.”
Losing Flook reduces the center options available to incoming Wallabies coach Les Kiss, amid speculation fellow Test sensation Hunter Paisami will switch to Japanese rugby. The arrival of NRL switch Angus Crichton could offset this, with the Sydney Roosters’ ball skewing towards the inside centre.
While players playing overseas can still be selected for Australia, no members of the starting squad for the 2025 Spring Tour have played outside of Super Rugby that year.
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Len Ikitau, James O’Connor, Tom Hooper and Taniela Tupou played on the tour despite signing overseas deals. Noah Lolesio and Will Skelton were big names that could not be found abroad.
However, a lack of center depth has given Henry the opportunity to make an impressive impact ahead of the 2027 Rugby World Cup, although he insists that is not a thought in his mind.
“I’m pretty focused on what we’re trying to do at the Reds and trying to play my best football for Queensland, so I haven’t thought too much about it,” Henry said.
Working in Henry’s favor ahead of the Wallabies move could be his developing relationship with fifth-eighth Carter Gordon, whose outstanding performance against the Waratahs has propelled him to the front of the Test rankings.
The 25-year-old scored two goals; He showed a surprising burst of pace given his own injury history to score the match-winner with his second try, beating Test winger Harry Potter on a 50-metre run outside and his bomb from the boot setting up No.8 Harry Wilson for the game’s opening try.
Gordon endured a carnage in 2025 after suffering a spinal fluid leak in an NRL pre-season match for the Gold Coast Titans, then suffered a broken nose, torn quad and broken wrist when he returned to rugby union.
Reds’ Isaac Henry scores a try in the fifth round Super Rugby match between the Queensland Reds and NSW Waratahs at Suncorp Stadium.Credit: Getty Images
But he appears to be taking another step forward each week and Reds captain Fraser McReight revealed it was Gordon’s work off the ball that caught his eye.
“It’s great to play alongside him, especially when we defend with him. He throws his body around and as a loose forward I love that, I respect that a lot because he’s looking for the guy,” McReight said.
“He can handle criticism on the pitch very well, sometimes men can get into him because he’s our number 10 and we need him to talk, then he does that and comes forward. I don’t think there’s a better image in a striker’s mind than to see our back 10 wanting the ball, taking the ball and owning that space.”
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