St George Illawarra fullback Clint Gutherson responds to pursuit of North Queensland Cowboys star Scott Drinkwater
St George Illawarra captain Clint Gutherson has backed the club’s pursuit of Scott Drinkwater even if it meant giving up the No.1 jersey.
The Dragons have slumped to a 0-6 start to the season following Friday night’s 28-18 defeat against Manly in Wollongong, increasing the pressure on coach Shane Flanagan. This increased the club’s losing streak to 10, but the bad news is not limited to that. Maroons forward Jaydn Su’A has opted not to trigger an extension option in his contract and is set to defect to Parramatta at the end of the season.
Having missed Rabbitohs forward Keaon Koloamatangi bound for the Dragons, the Eels have turned their attention to Su’A and are preparing to get their man. The development represents a further blow to the winless club, who are scheduled to face the Rabbis and the Roosters ahead of the bye.
Although there is a staff retention freeze at Red V, this attitude does not apply to recruitment. This imprint has revealed Cowboys full-back Scott Drinkwater has been offered early leave to negotiate with rival clubs, with Wollongong shaping up as the most likely target.
The Dragons have made it clear they are on the hunt for a new full-back after targeting Drinkwater following a failed bid for Dolphin Trai Fuller. It is acknowledged that there are concerns that Gutherson, who has a contract until the end of next season, is having difficulty adapting to modern football.
This is a delicate situation for the club, given that Gutherson is the current captain and caretaker. But the former Eel hopes the Dragons can secure Drinkwater’s signature and has no qualms about stepping into another position.
“100 percent. He’s a high-quality player and you need that type of players,” Gutherson said. “I’m not against any of this and I’m sure the club is doing everything it can to bring someone like this to the club…
“I agree with that, things like that don’t bother me. This is the club, this is what they do, they make our squad and our team better.”
“If it’s for a full-back, I’m all for it. I’ve always said throughout my career, I’ll play wherever it is and it doesn’t bother me.”
“I want to win. We all want to win, we want to be better. We want to have a better squad and if they think that’s the role, that’s the role.”
It’s a selfless stance from Gutherson, who was prepared to step aside as Parramatta fullbacks for Blaize Talagi and eventual successor Isaiah Iongi before the Dragons signed him.
When asked what position he thought he would move into if Drinkwater arrived, the 31-year-old said: “It doesn’t matter how I play, no matter where I am on the pitch, I just kind of keep playing my game.
“I hope I don’t get tapped on the shoulder again like I had with Iongi. You just want to have the strongest squad, the strongest players and then you adapt. Whatever they are working on, hopefully everything will happen and we can add a player of this quality to our team.”
A hamstring injury, which will sideline Gutherson for another month, prevented him from playing against the Sea Eagles. However, the embattled coach came forward to openly support Flanagan.
“Absolutely. That’s the weird thing right now; we’re not getting the results but we’re all on the same page behind closed doors,” he said.
“We’re all trying to play for him, all the coaching staff, all the players. Obviously that’s not where we want it to be and nobody does, but that’s where we are.”
“All we can do is go out there and compete hard and show how important he is to us, and I think we did that. [against Manly] …
“We’ve been in every tackle in a game. We’ve been in the fight, we were ahead on every play bar last week and again there came a point in the game where we weren’t iced or someone wasn’t iced and they went the other way and scored. “You can’t do that in the NRL and last week against the Cowboys we were on every play bar. We could easily get three or four wins and you never know.
“But we are not. This is where we are, and this is where you will be judged.”
The squad freeze has left the futures of out-of-contract players Damien Cook, Tyrell Sloan, Christian Tuipulotu, Emre Güler, Hame, Sele, Luciano Leilua, Mat Feagai and Nathan Lawson uncertain.
Cook, whose one-year contract extension talks have been stalled, said he understood the club’s stance.
“When it comes down to it, we’re the ones playing out on the weekend and we can’t get it done right now,” Cook said.
“It’s always been motivating for everyone to try to play in this great game for as long as they can, certainly for me personally. You should probably ask other players how they might react to that as well.”
