‘You want to see them doing better, but we want to beat them’: No time for sentiment for Clint Gutherson as he prepares to face Eels

There were 84 points scored the last time the Eels and Dragons met at CommBank Stadium, but there’ll be a few more points to prove when former Parramatta skipper Clint Gutherson returns to his old stomping ground to take on the team that let him go. Gutherson insists there are no hard feelings and that he’s looking forward to taking on the club where he spent nine seasons, with the blue and golds having their own former Dragon in Zac Lomax, who will be fired up against his old team. The Eels have struggled greatly without their inspirational fullback who was told last year by incoming coach Jason Ryles that he wouldn’t remain in the No.1 jersey, which prompted Gutherson to sort out his long-term future with the Dragons. Smear Campaign? DCE’s Had His Say… Now What, Manly? Can the Sea Eagles block out the noise and stay in the premiership hunt? “I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be fun,” he said after his side’s gritty win over the Storm. “I’ve said it before that there were never any hard feelings leaving Parramatta, but it was just the way that they wanted to go. It’s part of footy. “I’m looking forward to it. I’m sure I’ll get a reception from the crowd at some stage. “I’ve got a lot of mates over there and a lot of family – I call them family now – and I’m just looking forward to it. It’s another game of footy for me and it’ll be fun. “Once the game starts, you forget about it (the emotional side).” The Eels are winless to start the year, with rookie fullback Isaiah Iongi struggling to make much of an impact compared with Gutherson, who has already set up seven tries. “You never want to see your mates struggling, and as I said, I’ve got a lot of mates there that will be my mates after footy,” he said. “You want to see them doing better, but we want to beat them. There are no feelings towards that, we want to win. “Next week is just another game for me. There’ll be a bit of a build-up from the media, but that’s just the way it goes. I just want to win.” Gutherson was the heart and soul of the Eels and still has plenty of friends at the club in Mitch Moses, J’maine Hopgood and Bryce Cartwright, but the man sledging him the most is former teammate Reagan Campbell-Gillard, who’s now at the Titans. “It’s probably Reggie, and he’s gone so he’s just talking about how they let me go,” he joked. “Mitch and Hoppy and Carty are still my really good mates, so if they’re out there, then I’m going to go and rip their heads off.”