{"id":501492,"date":"2026-05-07T20:55:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T20:55:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=501492"},"modified":"2026-05-07T22:24:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T22:24:29","slug":"blues-bolter-gould-says-is-in-the-mix-for-contested-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=501492","title":{"rendered":"Blues bolter Gould says is 'in the mix' for contested spot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Phil Gould<\/a> has declared Knights star Fletcher Sharpe would be "in the mix" for the NSW Blues<\/a> as the selection debate heats up.<\/p>\n

The introduction of a six-man bench in Origin has led to a number of versatile players being linked to the Blues jersey with Sharpe one of them.<\/p>\n

Adam Doueihi<\/a>, who can play in the halves, centre or even lock, has also been pushed as a possible chance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Souths dealt cruel blow as Latrell disappears off team list<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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Sharpe started the season on fire with a try and try assist for Newcastle in Las Vegas but he only played 26 minutes before he had to leave the field with a posterior cruciate ligament injury.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Hunter Valley product missed two matches with that injury and has since played four matches at five-eighth and two in the No.1 jersey.<\/p>\n

He has contributed four try assists this season and in matches where he hasn't, Newcastle has lost.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2026 NRL season live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.\ufeff<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Gould backed him to put pressure on for a bench spot. \ufeff<\/p>\n

"He's got to be in the mix," he said on Wide World of Sports' Six Tackles with Gus<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

"Particularly if they're going to have six on the bench, he covers a whole swag of positions on the bench. He's a good player, a really good player."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Gould then recounted the moment he first spotted Sharpe in Harold Matthews six years ago.<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs football boss said he "looked like (Ryan) Papenhuyzen\ufeff" back then and tore strips off his opponent.<\/p>\n

Sharpe has played all his junior rugby league at the Knights having grown up in Maitland and Cessnock. The 22-year-old debuted for Newcastle in 2024. \ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Phil Gould has declared Knights star Fletcher Sharpe would be "in the mix" for the NSW Blues as the selection debate heats up. The introduction […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":501494,"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\/501492"}],"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=501492"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":501497,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501492\/revisions\/501497"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/501494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=501492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=501492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=501492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}