For the first time in his career, South Sydney Rabbitohs marquee signing Lewis Dodd is finally set to be granted the opportunity to start in his preferred halfback position.
Attempting to find the right halves combination, coach Wayne Bennett made three new transfers ahead of this year, bringing in Jamie Humphreys, Lewis Dodd and Jayden Sullivan from the Manly Sea Eagles, St Helens RLFC and Wests Tigers respectively.
While Humphreys and Sullivan have both exceeded expectations, the same can't be said for Dodd.
Since making the move from the United Kingdom to the NRL, the English international has failed to live up to the hype and only featured in four first-grade matches, whilst spending the majority of his tenure in the NSW Cup competition
However, Dodd is now set to be handed the No.7 jersey and will accompany Jack Wighton in the halves due to incumbent halfback Humphreys being ruled out with a concussion, per The Daily Telegraph.
The move to hand the halfback reins to Dodd this weekend against the Cronulla Sharks gives him the stage that will allow him the opportunity to perform and shut down media critics.
It also comes as the Rabbitohs and Dodd's management will soon meet to discuss his future.
"I'm hearing that Souths are really having second thoughts about his three-year contract and they will soon have talks with his agent about his future with the club," The Daily Telegraph's Phil Rothfield said on Triple M NRL Daily at the start of July.
"Whether it's back to England or shopping him around to another club. Even his NSW Cup form hasn't been all that particularly good and it's just not worked out for him
"I think Souths will be prepared to give him the rest of the year, but moving forward, I just don't think it's going to happen for him.
"They really like him (and) he's a lot of fun to be around but I don't think there's a lot of confidence in the team around his football."
