The best is yet to come: ‘King’ Gutherson says he will get better with age

3 months ago 20

Clint Gutherson did not pick up the phone when St George Illawarra coach Shane Flanagan tried to contact him during the week. A couple of hours passed before the skipper returned the call.

“He told me he was doing Pilates with the Couchman brothers [Ryan and Toby] and Hamish Stewart – it was meant to be their day off,” Flanagan said.

Clint Gutherson enjoys a round at Beverley Park Golf Club on Friday for a Dragons event.

“That’s Gutho. He came back to training early this year, and is probably fitter than he was last year, which is crazy. But one of the best things he does is a thing he doesn’t even know he’s doing, and that’s setting an example for the others.

“I can see it rubbing off on a few of the boys like the Couchmans, Hamish and Dylan Egan. It’s what he does rather than what he says.”

Gutherson played every minute in every game in 2025 and never stopped trying to inspire his teammates in an excellent first season in the Red V. He took home the Dragons Medal for being the club’s best player.

Dragons brainstrust, coach Shane Flanagan and his assistant Mick Ennis at Beverley Hills Golf Club.

But his influence over the next generation of Dragons, and showing them the standards that need to be met every day, is something you cannot put a price on. Another veteran Damien Cook was doing likewise, Flanagan said.

Dragons fans appreciated Gutherson emptying the tank every week. The non-stop running and effort plays were the same reasons Parramatta supporters adored the ‘King’.

Even though he redlines every game – and even at 31 – Gutherson is convinced his best football is still ahead of him.

And if pre-season performances are any guide, he might be on to something.

Gutherson again won the 1.2km run, the 1.5km and the 5km charge up Mt Keira outside Wollongong. He even shaved a few seconds off the 22 minutes and 58 seconds he clocked last year, just for a laugh.

Dragons fullback Clint Gutherson (left) did his best to motivate St George Illawarra in his maiden year with the club in 2025.

When you ask Gutherson if he fears he will one day burn out, he says: “I will, eventually. But that’s when you’re done. Hopefully it’s in another three or four years. You never know. I enjoy my footy so much because you never know when it will finish.

“I know what I can bring, and when I can’t bring it, that’s when I will know it’s time to call it quits.

“I do know this is the fittest I’ve been in a while. I still love to push myself, physically and mentally.”

As for getting better after 30, Gutherson said: “Definitely. There will always be people who doubt you, who tell you, you’re too old or too slow, but I know what I bring to a team.

“It won’t always be what other people think I should bring, but I know what I can bring.

“I won’t be a 10 out of 10 every week, nobody ever is, but if I’m as seven or eight every week, that’s what the team needs.”

Flanagan is excited by what awaits with his side’s attack. Gutherson will be utilised even more in attack, Kyle Flanagan, the only other Dragon who featured in every minute of every game, will strike up a bond with recruit Daniel Atkinson, who reminds the coach a little of Tom Dearden because of his excellent running game and ability to break tackles, while hookers Cook and Jacob Liddle continue to push each other to that next level.

The Dragons only have 26 players on their roster, and remain in the market for a front-rower before the season opener in Las Vegas. Flanagan said he had a lot of time for recruits Setu Tu and David Fale, a winger and centre from the New Zealand Warriors and Panthers respectively.

Dragons coach Shane Flanagan likes what he sees in recruit Daniel Atkinson, who joins the club from the Sharks.

The only player who will be unavailable for the start of the season is Egan, who ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in the middle of last season and will not be available until May. Flanagan said the Gerringong junior was due for a cleanout of his knee on Monday, and while they could have pushed him to return in nine months, they were more than comfortable to wait 12 months, especially given Egan’s age and early stage of his career.

Flanagan revealed the club had toyed with the idea of spending four days training at the University of Hawaii before Vegas, but will now fly straight to the US because of costs.

Bookies do not give the Dragons a chance of winning the title in 2026, and only have the Gold Coast and Knights ahead of them in early wooden-spoon markets.

“We didn’t lose too many games by a lot of points, and were in nearly every single game,” Gutherson said.

“We have a really good bunch of kids who have big futures in the game. If me and a few of the older boys can help guide them, and with some luck with injuries, you never know what can happen.”