The previous meeting between the Eels and Dragons at CommBank Stadium resulted in 84 points, but former Parramatta skipper Clint Gutherson will return to his old stomping ground to face the team that let him go.
Gutherson insists there are no hard feelings and that he is looking forward to facing the club where he spent nine seasons, with the blue and golds boasting their own former Dragon in Zac Lomax, who will be fired up against his old team.
The Eels have struggled immensely without their inspirational fullback, who was told last year by incoming coach Jason Ryles that he would no longer wear the No.1 shirt, prompting Gutherson to consider his long-term future with the Dragons.
“I am looking forward to it. “It’s going to be fun,” he stated following his team’s tough victory over the Storm.
“I’ve indicated before that there were no hard feelings about leaving Parramatta; it was simply the route they wanted to go. It’s part of football.
“I am looking forward to it. I’m sure I’ll get a reaction from the audience at some point.
“I have a lot of friends and relatives over there – I call them family now – and I’m really looking forward to it. It’s another football game for me, and it should be enjoyable.
“Once the game starts, you forget about it (the emotional side).”The Eels are winless to begin the season, with rookie fullback Isaiah Iongi struggling to make an impression compared to 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 went on:
“You want them to do better, but we want to beat them.” There are no feelings about it; we just want to win.
“Next week is just another game to me. There will be some media build-up, but that is normal. “I just want to win.”
Gutherson was the Eels’ heart and soul, and he still has plenty of pals at the club, including Mitch Moses, J’maine Hopgood, and Bryce Cartwright, but the man sledging him the most is former teammate Reagan Campbell-Gillard, who is now with the Titans.
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