{"id":392310,"date":"2024-05-09T20:12:49","date_gmt":"2024-05-09T20:12:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=392310"},"modified":"2024-05-09T22:05:04","modified_gmt":"2024-05-09T22:05:04","slug":"no-one-better-gus-puts-leniu-in-frame-for-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=392310","title":{"rendered":"&#039;No one better&#039;: Gus puts Leniu in frame for Blues"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nrl\/phil-gould\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"\">Phil Gould<\/a> has floated Spencer\ufeff Leniu as a shock candidate for a <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nsw-blues\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NSW Blues<\/a> jumper, despite a lack of game-time.<\/p>\n<p>With less than three weeks remaining until squads for the <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nrl\/state-of-origin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">State of Origin<\/a> series-opener are picked, Gould believes Leniu would be the perfect inclusion off the bench as an impact player \u2013 exactly the role he was used in at the Panthers.<\/p>\n<p>But given Leniu is <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nrl\/news-2024-spencer-leniu-racism-ezra-mam-roosters-broncos-guilty-apology-hearing\/02cf8e98-c42e-468f-ac77-2f6e9ad622df\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"fresh off an eight-match ban for making a racist remark to Ezra Mam\">fresh off an eight-match ban for making a racist remark to Ezra Mam<\/a> in his Roosters debut in Las Vegas in March, such a selection wouldn&#x27;t come without risk. \ufeff<\/p>\n<p>\ufeff<strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nrl\/news-2024-dolphins-defeat-manly-sea-eagles-tom-trbojevic-hamstring-injury-collision-with-sideline-cameraman\/71c250bb-7761-4508-a71f-e368363aeb17\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Manly woes continue as Turbo injured in loss\ufeff\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Manly woes continue as Turbo injured in loss\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nrl\/david-fifita-news-2024-leaving-gold-coast-titans-contract-option-panthers-roosters\/65badc35-9587-4e5b-a3e2-9765dee8c7a1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Defiant Hasler&#x27;s big claim after Fifita hammer blow<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/afl\/news-2024-wil-powell-five-match-ban-homophobic-slur-gold-coast-suns\/94b06a08-9127-4efd-ba73-7a2f0a92910a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Suns player cops monster ban for &#x27;terrible&#x27; slur<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Gould said Leniu&#x27;s inclusion would go against \ufeffhis own selection policy, in that every player \u2013 even those on the bench \u2013 be capable of playing 80 minutes.<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"6d4d3795-7d75-453e-a6f7-739bb227a7fc\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/6d4d3795-7d75-453e-a6f7-739bb227a7fc\" alt=\"\" data-width=\"1920\" data-height=\"1080\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&quot;Spencer has never been used in that \u2013 he&#x27;s always been used as impact off the bench &#8230; and there&#x27;s no one better at that,&quot; Gould said on Wide World of Sports&#x27; <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/videos\/nrl\/gus-warms-up-to-the-idea-of-a-roosters-premiership-six-tackles-with-gus-ep-12\/clvxi9gn700000gmqaoj82gbh\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Six Tackles with Gus\"><em>Six Tackles with Gus<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Spencer Leniu can be quite dynamic coming off the bench. He can change the momentum of the game. If you&#x27;re behind he can change it and if you&#x27;re on top he just puts them to the sword.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Leniu has been named to make his return against the Warriors on Sunday afternoon, and will have a maximum of \ufeffthree games before squads for Origin I are named on May 27.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Watch the 2024 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/9now.app.link\/NGHBKQkVweb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"\"><em><strong>9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a><em><strong>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><img data-video-id=\"6352520355112\" src=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/pickerimage-43.jpg\" alt=\"Gus warms up to the idea of a Roosters premiership: Six Tackles with Gus - Ep12\" data-vms-id=\"ref:clvxi9gn700000gmqaoj82gbh\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Gould said a lack of match fitness would be a concern for coach Michael Maguire.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;If someone went down in the first minute and you had to say &#x27;Spencer, you&#x27;ve gotta go 79 minutes mate&#x27;, that would be different,&quot; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;But he&#x27;s an impact player, he&#x27;ll graduate over time. I think the intention is to train him up and get him to being a 50-60 minute contributor, and that&#x27;s pretty much where you want your middle forwards these days.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Origin I \ufeffis in Sydney on June 5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Phil Gould has floated Spencer\ufeff Leniu as a shock candidate for a NSW Blues jumper, despite a lack of game-time. With less than three weeks <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=392310\" title=\"&#039;No one better&#039;: Gus puts Leniu in frame for Blues\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":375339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392310"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=392310"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":392314,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392310\/revisions\/392314"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/375339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=392310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=392310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=392310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}