Canterbury Bulldogs director of football Phil Gould has backed calls for Daine Laurie to be moved into the number six jersey at the Wests Tigers.
Just last week, Gould rated Laurie as one of the possible players the Parramatta Eels could chase if they were looking for an X-Factor style player.
Laurie has found himself on the outer at the Tigers this season as coach Tim Sheens looks for the club's first win after six straight losses to start the campaign.
Sheens' time at the club won't be about to get any easier after star Adam Doueihi injured his ACL last week. The fear is that his season will be over.
Doueihi, who started the year at five-eighth, originally spent time at fullback during Round 3 when Laurie was dropped back to the bench, and that was a trend that continued in the following weeks.
Charlie Staines would eventually move to fullback with Doueihi back at five-eighth, but now, there will be no Doueihi, and it could be grounds for Laurie to be recalled to the side.
Laurie, who has played his entire NRL career at fullback to date, has struggled during his appearances at NSW Cup level with the Western Suburbs Magpies, and it could see Staines hold onto the fullback spot while Brandon Wakeham joins Luke Brooks in the halves.
But Gould, taking to his Twitter account and responding to a user criticising Laurie's fullback play, said Laurie is a six.
"I believe he's a 6," Gould wrote.
"He was always going to be a 6. If you watched his junior rep football, he needed to be developed and given the tools to play 6. He's never been comfortable at fullback. They just played him FB because they had plenty of halves."
Gould, who originally recruited Laurie during his time at the Penrith Panthers, said previously he had "never seen more scintilating highlights tapes on a 15 or 16 year-old as what Daine presented at the time."
Laurie's three NRL appearances this season have taken his career tally to 44, with all but three of those coming at the Tigers since he made the switch from the Panthers ahead of the 2021 season.
The fullback is off-contract at the end of this season with the Tigers, and as yet, there has been no indication that he will be re-signed by the joint venture.
Zero Tackle learned earlier this year that there had been no approach made by the club for Laurie yet, however, it's unclear if that situation has changed, or whether other clubs may come to the party for the 23-year-old.