Parramatta Eels have agreed to release Clint Gutherson effective immediately.
He is set to take up a 3 year deal with the St-George Illawarra Dragons.
Story by Michael Chammas, SMH
Clint Gutherson’s tenure at Parramatta is over after the club granted the captain an immediate release from his final year at the Eels.
Gutherson has played his final game for the Eels and is on the verge of securing a three-year deal with the St George Illawarra Dragons just 24 hours after they agreed to a mutual termination of the contract with their captain Ben Hunt.
Gutherson is the second NRL club skipper in as many days to sever ties with his respective club after his management requested an immediate release from his contract on Wednesday afternoon.
The Eels held a board meeting on Wednesday night and agreed to grant the fullback his request to part ways effective immediately.
The Eels will not pay any part of his $875,000 salary with St George Illawarra indicating they were in a position to pay the fullback the value of his Parramatta deal.
Another club has also expressed interest but the Dragons are in the box seat to announce his deal as early as this week. The Dragons have also expressed interest in securing Gutherson in 2026 and 2027 on a lucrative contract. The contract hinges on a medical assessment.
Gutherson’s future has been up in the air for several months after new coach Jason Ryles informed him that he planned on moving the veteran out of his usual fullback role.
At first the Eels offered the position to Blaize Talagi but when he signed with the Panthers, Parramatta secured Dylan Edwards’ deputy Isaiah Iongi from Penrith as their No.1 for next year.
Gutherson, who was told that he would be used as a hooker/lock if he stayed at the Eels in 2025, is convinced he still has plenty to offer at fullback and the Dragons are keen to hand the 30-year-old the No.1 jersey next year.
It’s expected to see Tyrell Sloan shift to the wing to accommodate his arrival.
“If it was to happen, Tyrell’s still got a big part,” Flanagan recently said.
“I think it’d be fantastic for Tyrell’s development to have someone like Gutho around. Tyrell could play on the wing. So if I need to have that conversation with Tyrell I will, but I haven’t as yet because it’s a little bit pie in the sky stuff at the moment.”
Gutherson will also come into consideration for the Dragons’ captaincy role that has been vacated by Hunt’s departure, but the frontrunner for the job is South Sydney recruit Damien Cook.
Replies
Gutho always gave his all but fullbacks need speed and need to offer more in attack to take pressure off the halves. I am really looking forward to having a genuine attacking threat at fullback next year that can help turn momentum and not reply on Moses to kick us to victory.
Maybe with Iongi and Lomax in the backline we can see some line breaks off Hopgood offloads or even tries. We should also offer a lot more when in opposition 20m. How many times did we see Moses, Brown or Penisini make a break but no one there to support them. Then when attacking the try line we saw with Talagi in the backline what skilful players offer in attack over effort players.
We will let in more tries than we will score with a green "attacking fullback"
guthos defense was terrible this year...
when you put in more effort trying to cover for the other 4 backs, it might appear that way. put anyone else there and we definietly get the spoon. our backline defence will be worse next year.
I cannot possibly believe our backline defence will be worse next year.....you don't think Lomax wont help it, and Sivo's absence from a defence perspective is hardly worrying, throw in JAC and Vunavali and all of a sudden we have the best backline in the comp.
You know I watched every match this year gone and not once did I think/comment/or say that Guth's defence was terrible...... yeh he made mistakes, tell me which fullback doesn't.
I think your post basically is not necessary and the Green "attacking fullback" has an excellent track record with his defence.....were you around when Guth had his first game for us, he played on the wing and you would not feed him. I liken Iongi's record very similar to Hopgood's recruitment under similar circumstances 2 year's ago.
What did you think of Hopgood when he came to us as a "greenhorn lock"?
BTW this has nothing to do with Guth's departure, its just not reality to knock the kid replacing him, who IMO is an excellent pickup......asked the Penrith Boys what they think of him and Hopwood too for that matter ?
As much as we loved Gutho his legs were not fast enough when following the attackers as the ball was being past across the backline , he was generally three metres or so from the tree scorers, it was obvious his legs were R S .
Well he's gone. I knew it was coming, but when the day comes..... Soon to be a Dragon. Hope he goes well, and that depends if he gets over his leg problems, which may or maynot be caused by ageing or wear and tear. I fancy Flanagan is not a fool...... Assuming he's a Dragon next year I'll watching how he goes for even though I'll welcome the salary cap relief that we receive, I'll always remember King Gutho.
The true supporters always will Richard, we have seen enough pain over the years to appreciate the ones that put in every time. I hope the release is done with some dignity in the spirit of both sides moving forward.
You're right Poppa this guy deserves a dignified end at the club. Sadly, we havent had many Greats at our club to remember since Pricey, Crow and co. My "Legends since that era have been Hindy, Fui, Hayne and Guth. Hope we see another Great at our club soon.