Clint Gutherson - he's coming good

He copped a lot after his 1st game for us (rightly so) but I've been impressed since. He's resilient. Makes errors but makes up for them every week. Last night was his best game for the club, getting thrown into fullback at halftime and he was outstanding. Caught the bombs, covered the kicks and made good metres. He isn't an awesome winger, nor fullback, but give him time. I get the strong sense he is a confidence player, and once he keeps playing, he can be a really solid player for us. He has shown it already, that try he put on with a kick against Penrith, giving Hoppa the cya later last night. He has the skills. Just a bit of confidence and he will be such a good pickup. Remember that he's a rookie, one coming off an ACL injury. He has shown far more than our recent rookie wingers. The best thing is that in a lot of games he has made a poor error, BUT bounced back and got on with it, and got involved. Broncos 1st game, the drops against Penrith, Manly, he gets back up and gives it his all. Keep backing him and he will only get better. It's obvious he has skill, a few more games under his belt and the confidence will grow further, and better performances will follow. As is the case with so many things about the club this year, stick solid and the results will follow. This is a very, very good side and it's oh so good to be an Eels fan when we are winning with such hunger, committment and DESIRE. I'm loving it.

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  • He has always been good, just had some nervous moments on the wing.  Gutherson is a fullback and has played at fullback probably 90% of the time between the ages of 15 to 20 years of age.  Playing on the wing for Gutherson is somewhat foreign and he will take time in that position, but tonight he showed he is very comfortable at the back and could be a long term fullback for us when Gordon moves on.  He is some comfortable at the back that French's manager may start looking elsewhere?   

  • He came in off his wing and let in the first try. He has moments of brilliance and moments of not so brilliant.
    • Exactly, and he doesn't go into his shell. He scores a fantastic solo try and makes a great break for us in the 2nd half. He keeps on giving it everything and he has some quality about it. And GUTS.
    • Matthew, he never came off his wing, he held his position but because Gordon was injured, Gordon could not rap around and take the winger (ie., as Billy Slater famously does).  In the modern game with the compressed defence there is always an overlap and this is accentuated when the opposition execute a good block play.  That try occurred for two reasons (firstly because Gordon couldn't/didn't rap around) and secondly because the insider men didn't slide.     

    • Matt, Gutherson face a 3 on 1 for the dogs first try. Pick any winger in the history of the game to successfully defend against that.
    • He didn't come off his wing at all for the first try. That's how we were set.
  • I think he had to come in off the wing for the first try. There was three Bulldog players close together so they would have scored anyway. I think his best spot is fullback so this will create some competition for Flash's spot when he retires end of next year.
  • He showed fullback is his best spot, he might move there permanently sooner rather then later.

  • Every week he's showing more.

    Dogs obviously targeted Gutherson , as the weak link in the chain, all night long, thinking he'd be most likely to crack under pressure (& tried to defensively smash & bully Semi out of the game too).

    He won the bout, despite getting his pants pulled down with early misreads in the first half (addressed after half time break).

    How exciting was it to see a full back ,with young legs, keen as mustard, challenge the kick returns & pose some danger ? Part of it was desire & young legs.

    He's probably deceptively faster than he looks as he gave Tyron Phillips a bit of a speedster a run for his money with his Oates like long legs but with less of his power & more agility & dance moves & I suspect more thirst for footy nous.

    I think the Dogs were as shocked as some of us, that he had those dance moves in him, where he showcased his talents given more space than he usually gets.

    He looks considerablely more threatening, more comfortable & safer at fullback than wing, probably in part because he's probably more accustomed to fullback in his starring junior days & as many on here point out wing is one of the hardest to manage defensively.

    Great effort from the young man to come back from all those injuries & immense pressure. Very impressive & warms my Parra heart with so much pride.
  • That was the best game Gutho has played for us, which shows two things. One, he has the ability to rise to the occasion. Two, it's probably not a coincidence his best game was also a game he shifted to fullback.
    He is slightly built and tall so on kick returns he is forced to play safe because he is coming out of a corner (he has to avoid getting pushed over the sideline or rolled back if he goes sideways). But from fullback we saw he can take the line on straighter and use his step. Put differently, it seems the kind of move he put on Hoppa is available to him when returning from the middle third of the field but not the corner? He's certainly bought himself some good will with that last game, that's for sure.
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