King of the Mountain: Gutho sets standard at Dragons training
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“I’ll show these boys how to get up the hill”.
That was Clint Gutherson’s vow to Shane Flanagan as St George Illawarra’s star recruit joined his new team-mates at training for the first time on a run to the top of Mount Keira.
Just 23 minutes later, Gutherson was the first player to reach the summit, 464m above Wollongong, where the former Parramatta captain has moved after signing a three-year contract with the Dragons.
“That's why we got him here; to set examples, to set standards,” Flanagan said. “It’s not only his ability on the field, it’s what he does here Monday to Friday.
“That was a big selling point for me. We all know what he does on the weekend, but I know what I needed Monday to Friday, and I need Clint Gutherson and I needed Damien Cook for Monday to Friday business.”
Gutherson will play fullback with Tyrell Sloan to move to wing or even centre, while Flanagan confirmed the Dragons were in the market for a halfback or five-eighth and a prop.
Kyle Flanagan could play halfback or five-eighth, depending on who the Dragons sign for the other playmaking role and they have a position in their roster for a prop.
However, Terrell May is unlikely to be in St George Illawarra's price range and the signing of Gutherson effectively ruled them out of pursuing Josh Addo-Carr.
Flanagan also revealed that Cook, the former NSW Origin hooker, would share the dummy half duties with Jacob Liddle, who had been “burned out” last season after being forced to play 80 minutes nearly every week.
Val Holmes is due to resume running after breaking his fibula during the finals, while Gutherson has fully recovered from quad and rib injuries that plagued him at the end of the season with the Eels.
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“If you want to come up the Keira mountain and see what sort of legs he's got, I'll show you,” Flanagan said. “He blew everyone away this morning. It was outstanding.
“Just as he started to take off, he said, ‘I'll show these boys how to get up the hill’. I didn't take too much notice of it and then he just went straight to the front, and like Pride of Jenni led from start to finish.
“It's only about a 28-minute run, but there's no flat parts of it so it’s more of a mental challenge to get it done.
“A lot of the younger boys did it a couple of weeks ago and some of them beat their times by about five or six minutes, so that shows some real improvement.”
Despite losing Kangaroos stars Ben Hunt and Zac Lomax, Flanagan is confident the Dragons can improve next season with the addition of Gutherson, Cook and Holmes.
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“At the back end of last year, Clint was his own worst enemy,” Flanagan said. “He was playing with a torn quad and some rib cartilage damage but he battled away and that's the sort of person he is - he didn't want to let his team down.
“They had Mitchell Moses out, Junior Paulo was out … all the leaders of that Parramatta squad were out injured, and Gutho didn't want to be another one and he thought that he could battle through.
“It was probably to his own detriment that people would say, ‘look, he's old and he's tired’. No, he was standing up for his club and fighting really hard. I know the Parramatta people appreciate that and we're just lucky to have him.
“It was interesting when you see him walk through the gate and just watching, all the boys are pretty excited to have him on board.”
Gutherson only signed with the Dragons last week after being granted a release by the Eels but within 24 hours he had found temporarily accommodation in Wollongong until his family joins him after Christmas.
“It's a sign of the player and how much he's going to be invested in our club," Flanagan said.
“He signed his contract around lunch time, and he was on the internet, finding a place for his family to come down straight away.
“He's down here already, away from his family, and he'll do that for a while until they find a place to permanently stay, but they're going to move and live down here."
