Jason Ryles has met with Clinton Gutheron’s long-term agent Sam Ayoub this week, with the not-so-secret meeting focused on one thing: Ending speculation around Gutherson leaving the club at the end of the year
There have been claims across the NRL media over the last month that Gutherson may be moved on under Ryles’ new regime, most recently from Phil Gould on his Six Tackles with Gus podcast.
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Said Gould: “There’s a fair bit of scuttle around as to whether or not he moves from Parramatta. There’s a lot happening in the market … there’s plenty of scuttle. I’m not even saying it’s true. But this is the sort of stuff that’s going on behind the scenes everywhere, clubs looking to change their roster.”
Ryles, who has been monitoring the situation as he settles into life as the Eels top boss, thought things had reached enough of a boiling point on Monday that he needed to speak to Gutherson—in this case, through his team.
Gutherson now appears set to stay, though he may not be playing fullback in 2025.
Instead, Ryles is already plotting to move him into a centre role with most of his responsibilities at training coming around working with Penrith recruit Isaiah Iongi, who is marked as the heir to the number one.
The Sporting Base understands there have never been any discussions between the Eels and Gutherson about dropping his salary, which will be around $950,000 next season. He is only signed through to the end of the next NRL campaign and may be asked to move on after that; until those talks take place though, he’s staying in Parramatta.
Shane Flanagan and the Dragons will take the biggest knock from the news, though it’s not a huge blow to them. The rebuilding St George Illawarra coach was interested in Gutho’s services as a back line player and deputy fullback if he’d got him, but he wasn’t a primary target for the Red V.
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The Dragons are still interested in another Eel though; Reagan Campbell-Gillard has been talking to the joint venture for some days now and looks likely to sign a two year deal over the weekend.
