{"id":773332,"date":"2026-07-02T02:23:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T02:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/773332\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T02:23:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T02:23:13","slug":"nrl-news-2026-clint-gutherson-squashes-retirement-talks-st-george-illawarra-dragons-future-squad-signings-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/773332\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news 2026: Clint Gutherson squashes retirement talks, St George Illawarra Dragons future, squad signings | ANALYSIS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dragons<\/a> co-captain Clint Gutherson<\/a> is adamant he will play on next season.<\/p>\n

The only issue is, there might not even be a spot for him.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Clint Gutherson has a year to run on his Dragons deal.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Gutherson is one of the game\u2019s toughest competitors and has given his all for St George Illawarra since joining the club in 2024.<\/p>\n

Even this season, the veteran fullback has put in an enormous effort, often turning up to play through injury, despite the Dragons\u2019 on-field struggles.<\/p>\n

But the speed of the modern game and Gutherson\u2019s ageing body has made it difficult for him to produce the same quality<\/a> he did earlier in his career.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a slight on the 31-year-old either and he\u2019s been far from the Dragons\u2019 biggest concern this year, with plenty of his teammates underperforming.<\/p>\n

Despite his best football being behind him and injuries catching up to him, Gutherson is positive about going around again next season and finishing his Dragons contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have always been questions,\u201d he told media on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just now, it\u2019s been happening for years. Every time I was off-contract at Parra, someone would release something about my knees.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nothing new to me. When that time comes, I\u2019m sure someone close to me will tell me, but I\u2019ve got a lot of kilometres left.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gutherson\u2019s confidence and passion is admirable, but with a stack of high-profile recruits coming to Wollongong next year, it\u2019s difficult to see where he fits. <\/p>\n

Cowboys speedster Scott Drinkwater<\/a> has been signed to become the club\u2019s long-term fullback, while Warriors star Luke Metcalf<\/a> will assume the playmaking duties alongside either Daniel Atkinson, Lyhkan King-Togia or Kade Reed. <\/p>\n

That takes Gutherson out of the spine and there are limited other roles he could potentially fill for the Dragons next season.<\/p>\n

There has been talk of Gutherson shifting to centre, but that seems like a bridge too far given his age, speed and the players he would inevitably be marking.<\/p>\n

He was torn to shreds in the game he played at centre earlier this year for the Dragons and it would be difficult to see Gutherson marking up against the likes of Herbie Farnworth, Tolu Koula or Latrell Mitchell.<\/p>\n

Another possible option for \u201cKing Gutho\u201d is to play a bench utility role – however, that\u2019s seemingly what Connor Watson<\/a> has been brought to the club for.<\/p>\n

\"Connor<\/p>\n

Connor Watson will join the Dragons before moving to PNG in 2028.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Watson could start at lock and move to hooker with Gutherson donning the No.14 jersey and coming off the bench, but that would mean that one of the Saints\u2019 young forwards such as Ryan Couchman or Hamish Stewart would be shafted to the bench after being among the clear shining lights in a dour campaign.<\/p>\n

Stewart, Loko Pasifiki Tonga<\/a>, Dylan Egan, Couchman and his twin brother Toby have built the nucleus of an incredibly strong forward pack that is due to add Kangaroos prop Keaon Koloamatangi for 2027 and beyond<\/a>, so toying with that as a way to find Gutherson a spot in the team wouldn\u2019t be the wisest call.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a looming headache for Dean Young<\/a>, Ben Hornby or whoever ends up as the Dragons head coach next year, but there\u2019s a long way to go before a ball is kicked and these things always tend to work themselves out, one way or another.<\/p>\n

But with the skipper standing to earn an estimated $800,000 next season with the joint venture, who could really blame him for knocking back retirement. <\/p>\n

Dragons predicted 2027 team<\/p>\n

1. Scott Drinkwater 2. Phillip Sami 3. Valentine Holmes 4. Hayden Buchanan 5. David Fale 6. Daniel Atkinson 7. Luke Metcalf 8. Keaon Koloamatangi 9. Jacob Liddle 10. Toby Couchman 11. Dylan Egan 12. Hamish Stewart 13. Ryan Couchman 14. Connor Watson 15. Loko Pasifiki Tonga 16. Jacob Halangahu 17. Josh Kerr 18. Clint Gutherson 19. Nick Tsougranis<\/p>\n

\"TOWNSVILLE,<\/p>\n

Scott Drinkwater is a marquee signing for the Dragons.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Dragons 2027 full NRL squad<\/p>\n

Clint Gutherson, Connor Watson, Daniel Atkinson, David Fale, Dylan Egan, Hamish Stewart, Hayden Buchanan, Jacob Halangahu, Jacob Liddle, Josh Kerr, Keaon Koloamatangi, Kyle Flanagan, Loko Pasifiki Tonga, Luke Metcalf, Lyhkan King-Togia, Moses Suli*, Nick Tsougranis, Phillip Sami, Ryan Couchman, Scott Drinkwater, Toby Couchman, Valentine Holmes<\/p>\n

*Moses Suli is signed for 2027 but has been granted permission to leave<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dragons co-captain Clint Gutherson is adamant he will play on next season. The only issue is, there might…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":773333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-773332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=773332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/773333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}