Clint Gutherson manager seeks meeting to discuss contract extension for star Eels fullback
Parramatta fans have been left on edge with the club and skipper Clint Gutherson yet to formally resume talks over a new contract.
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Talks between Parramatta and Clint Gutherson have remained uncomfortably silent now for nearly three months with the Eels star’s manager wanting it known he is waiting and ready to negotiate.
Sam Ayoub, Gutherson’s long-term agent, suspended contract dialogue in a letter to the Eels dated August 12. That was 82 days ago. Ayoub pointed out at the time that Gutherson should be allowed to focus solely on Parramatta’s looming finals campaign.
The problem is neither party has formally resumed talks — a delay which must be concerning for Eels fans.
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Gutherson, 27, is off contract after next season and can now be formally approached by rival clubs for 2023 after the NRL’s November 1 deadline arrived.
Parramatta’s season ended in week two of the finals with Ayoub now wanting talks to kickstart again.
While reluctant to discuss Gutherson’s contract, Ayoub said: “We’re waiting at our end. It’s as simple as that. Clint and I are available and ready to talk.
“Clint is no different to any other player — he is a professional and needs to consider all options. In saying that he has made it clear that his preference would be to stay at Parramatta at this stage.
“And I have no interest in talking about the interested parties that are keen to chat with Clint going forward.”
An initial offer was rejected by Gutherson, who is hoping to secure a new four-year contract.
Ayoub wrote a letter to Eels general manager of football Mark O’Neill on August 12, postponing talks around Gutherson’s future.
In that letter, Ayoub is understood to have pointed out Gutherson was Parramatta’s captain and the club’s most consistent player.
Parramatta later publicly supported the decision to place all talks on hold.
O’Neill said he was in fact talking with Ayoub and was upbeat about Gutherson’s future at the club.
“We are working through it with Clint and his manager now and I hope to have some good news soon,” O’Neill said.
Player agents claim Parramatta are notorious for low-balling contact offers while the Eels say they are simply doing their best to retain the best players within the salary cap’s tight parameters.
Ayoub denied placing any monetary value on Gutherson after reports circulated stating the Eels captain was demanding $1 million a year.
Pressed in August about the $1 million a year figure, Gutherson said: “I’d love to get that … I have no clue where that came from. That’s up to Sam.
“I’ve got to leave that to Sam. I don’t even know where this has popped out from.”
Gutherson, described as Parramatta’s heart and soul, has represented NSW, PM’s XIII, City Origin and the Australian Nines.
Parramatta has multiple stars coming off contract after next season including Gutherson, Junior Paulo, Reed Mahoney, Marata Niukore, Reagan Campbell-Gillard, Ryan Matterson and Isaiah Papali’i.
Eels in fight to keep two stars
Maika Sivo and Marata Niukore are being tempted to walk out on Parramatta as the NRL’s free agency frenzy begins.
Around 160 players coming off contract after next season shift on to the open market from Monday.
While player managers aren’t anticipating a flurry of player movement immediately, most anticipate some heavy duty activity over the next fortnight.
And News Corp can reveal the powerhouse Sivo is being enticed to quit the NRL after next season for French rugby.
Sivo, 30 next year, is known to be keen on following the lead of another Fijian-born Parramatta winger, Semi Radradra, who moved to Toulon rugby union after the 2017 season.
While he has two more years remaining on his current deal, Sivo could seek an early release should the French offer formally materialise.
And the rumour mill already has a replacement lined up at Parramatta — Canberra’s Bailey Simonsson.
Canberra officials have heard the speculation but were unaware of any approach.
Eels forward Marata Niukore is ready to leave Parramatta for the Warriors, the deal said to be just about done.
Sources indicate Auckland-born Niukore wants a return home to New Zealand when his Eels deal expires after next season.
St George Illawarra still fancy their chances of signing Niukore but the Warriors remain firm favourites.
The Dragons aren’t giving up hope but talks between the Warriors and Niukore are said to be well advanced.
Should Niukore, 25, backflip and decide to remain in Australia, Brisbane and the Dolphins would also join the race.
Eels teammate Reed Mahoney has also been strongly linked to Dolphins.
Mahoney isn’t a priority signing for the new Redcliffe-based side despite his strong links to north Brisbane having grown in Nambour. Brisbane and the Gold Coast have also been connected to Mahoney.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal Canterbury continues to work out ways to tidy up the club’s salary cap. The Bulldogs won’t be afraid to shed a player if an opportunity arises.
At Penrith, Viliame Kikau remains unsigned from 2023. While North Queensland rate Kikau, The Daily Telegraph can reveal the Dolphins have little interest in the giant Panther.
Speculation about Canberra’s Josh Hodgson being transferred to Wests Tigers refuses to evaporate.
It is understood current Wests Tigers hooker, Jacob Liddle, would be prepared to move on should Hodgson arrive at Concord.
NRL giants dismantled as stars chase $10m at auction
It’s the wild west like we’ve never seen before.
Western Sydney giants, Penrith and Parramatta, are in danger of being dismantled, with the two clubs unable to convince any of their stars from going to auction.
From Monday — November 1 — Penrith’s off-contract premiership-winners Viliame Kikau, Api Koroisau and Dylan Edwards will join Eels kingpins Clint Gutherson, Reed Mahoney, Regan Campbell-Gillard and Isaiah Papali’i on the NRL’s open market.
More than $10 million in elite talent is up for sale with the inclusion of a 17th bidder in the Dolphins sparking the most frenzied negotiation period the game has experienced in years.
As of Monday, any player off-contract at the end of the 2022 season can sign with a rival club for 2023 and beyond.
The Sunday Telegraph can reveal several major developments that have unfolded, or poised to, including:
* Neither Kikau nor Koroisau have been offered a contract beyond their current deal;
* Kevin Naiqama, man of the match in the Super League grand final, is set to sign a one-year deal with the Roosters;
* Senior Bulldogs officials have been doing homework and background checks on Gutherson, with subtle inquiries made to members of the NSW Origin coaching staff;
* Wests Tigers hooker Jacob Liddle could be headed to Canberra, in a swap for Raiders dummy-half Josh Hodgson;
* Three of the most talented hookers in the game, Mahoney, Koroisau and Cronulla’s Blayke Brailey are all free agents from Sunday;
* Rabbitohs ace Cody Walker has signed a one-year contract extension.
With success comes increased salaries and an increasing strain on a club’s salary cap.
And the championship-winning Panthers face a delicate juggling act to avoid having their 2021 title-winning team ripped apart.
From their 2021 squad they have already lost Matt Burton (Bulldogs), Brent Naden (Bulldogs), Paul Momorovski (Roosters), while Tyrone May‘s future is in the hands of the club’s board.
Penrith CEO Brian Fletcher admitted the club simply haven’t had the time to lockdown any of their 11 off-contract players, leaving their biggest names to enter the NRL’s shop window.
He added that the new player in the chase for players – the Dolphins – added another element of uncertainty to the player market and a possible price-hike for players.
Asked if the club were down the track with either Koroisau or Kikau, Fletcher replied: “No, not at all. It will come down to the dollars.
“We all have a cap we have to work to. With this new team (Dolphins) in, you wouldn’t know what sort of dollars are going to be offered.
“We’re not concerned. It is what it is. We’re lucky we’re a team coming off a premiership so it is not as if we are a side you wouldn’t want to play for. Our retention committee will meet in the next couple of weeks when all the coaches are back.
“But we are not concerned with any stages of the negotiation at this stage.”
Fletcher added it remains possible, but tricky, to keep both the club‘s starting hooker in Koroisau and lethal backrower in Kikau.
“You can keep them both but you have to do a bit of juggling,” he said.
Kikau has been increasingly linked to a move back to Townsville with North Queensland, where he began his career before moving to Penrith.
The Panthers are monitoring the Eels negotiations with Papali’i – which have reached a stand-off.
The hard-running edge-forward is viewed as an ideal replacement for Kikau, should the Panthers prove unable to retain him.
At the Eels, Campbell-Gillard is increasingly unlikely to re-sign beyond his current deal.
However, Parramatta‘s hopes of keeping Mahoney are more promising due to the Broncos and Dolphins baulking at his $700,000 asking price.
At Cronulla, Brailey has surprisingly been left to the lure of potential suitors.
The Sharks despite their best efforts have fallen short of locking-up the talented dummy-half before November 1.
Sharks GM of football Darren Mooney met with Brailey’s agent David Riolo last week. New coach Craig Fitzgibbon wants the local junior signed immediately.
Meanwhile, Naiqama, 32, is set to return to the NRL after a three-year stint in the UK with St Helens.
Naiqama – who last played in the NRL with the Tigers in 2018 – is preparing to sign a 12-month contract with the Roosters, adding depth to the club’s backline following the retirement of Brett and Josh Morris.
LOCKED AND LOADED: THE NRL’S BEST VALUE LONG-TERM SIGNINGS
– Nick Walshaw
Peter Mulholland has never been one for all the jibber-jabber about club culture.
“Because that phrase — load of shit,” he says.
So how does he go about building an NRL franchise, then?
“With a guy like Dale Finucane,” the famed talent scout continues.
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“First time I saw Dale, he was 15,” Mulholland explains. “Nobody else wanted him. But you could see he was a kid motivated by one thing — to be the very best he could.”
So Mulholland, then scouting for Canterbury, signed the kid nobody wanted for $5000 plus school fees.
“And anyone who’s had anything to do with him since,” he continues, “they would go to war with Dale Finucane. Which is exactly what makes him that player you build a club around.”
Especially now.
With the NRL open market set to officially kick off from November 1, a host of club officials – not to mention agents, coaches, even fans – are all scouting anxiously to find that long-term franchise cornerstone.
But as for what a player must possess to be that first brick on which all others are set?
Obviously, ability is essential.
Yet a quick check of those signed until 2025 reveals an eclectic group of 18 names which includes Wests Tigers winger David Nofoaluma, Roosters rising star Lindsay Collins, Brisbane flyer Kotoni Staggs and Newcastle’s No. 9 Jayden Brailey.
Of course, there are the genuine superstars, too. Such as Canberra’s Josh Papalii, South Sydney lock Cameron Murray, Tom and Jake Trbojevic at Manly, Jason Taumalolo in North Queensland and Ryan Papenhuyzen at Melbourne.
Premiers Penrith, meanwhile, have James Fisher-Harris locked in for longer than any other player, while Cronulla are readying for life under new coach Craig Fitzgibbon having signed both Finucane and Cam McInnes to four-year deals.
Which is why on the eve of another NRL signing spree, we decided to ask Mulholland – a fella who has handed out close to 500 contracts – exactly what makes a cornerstone player.
Certainly when nobody else wanted Finucane, it was this now Raiders scout who not only signed him to Canterbury, but then doubled down with a Gulgong schoolboy named Josh Jackson, who nobody wanted, either.
“Both are great leaders,” Mulholland insists of a duo who have since played almost 450 NRL games combined, while also now defining that sort of fella you build a footy club around.
“You look at their workrates, work ethic off the ball, attitude on the training paddock — no shortcuts, demand excellence from others … these are all hallmarks of that (cornerstone) player.”
Elsewhere, Mulholland talks of seeking out players who bring not simply ability, but consistency, character and, most importantly, “are the guy nobody wants to play against, and everyone wants to play with”.
Take Papalii.
“Guys just want to play for him,” Mulholland says. “Same with Finucane, Fisher-Harris, even Brailey at the Knights.
“A lot of times people from outside the club, they don’t see a player’s value.
“Yet those within the club, they see the guy who is continually leading, continually setting the standards — and they recognise it daily.”
Which is why, at Penrith for example, there are bigger names than Fisher-Harris.
“But his name is never mentioned when it comes to players moving on,” Mulholland says.
Elsewhere, Tigers favourite Nofoaluma is one of three wingers on the list. Valentine Holmes, however, signed to the Cowboys as a fullback while Josh Addo-Carr was essentially the Bulldogs’ first marquee scalp in their rebuild.
“So Dave seems like an anomaly,” Mulholland says. “But he’s not when you look at his qualities.
“Dave Nofoaluma, for years, has been one of the Tigers’ most consistent. And while the winger role has changed substantially, he’s continually adapted while also never looking to go anywhere else, which shows a bloke passionate about his club. Of course, the Wests Tigers also needed to be seen as looking after their locals – and he’s a local.”
In the coming months, clubs will shell out plenty for some guy who proves to be the wrong choice down the track.
“And we all get ’em wrong, don’t worry,” Mulholland laughs.
“Which is why it’s really important you know what motivates a player. Know what their extrinsic and intrinsic motivations are.
“Because some players — even great players — they can sign a long-term deal and then get comfortable. Form dips. For them, the motivation is length of contract, or money.”
But a guy like Dale Finucane?
“Never been about money,” Mulholland insists. “Just like at age 15, his motivation remains being the very best he can.”
NRL PLAYERS LOCKED DOWN UNTIL 2025
Kotoni Staggs, 22 (Broncos)
$700,000 ends in 2025
He was still recovering from an ACL injury, was mired in off-field issues, and hadn’t established himself as a five-eighth at the time, but none of that deterred the Broncos from crowning Staggs as their No. 6 of the future on a long-term deal.
Grading: Wait and see.
Josh Papalii, 29 (Raiders)
$660,000 ends in 2025
Not only widely considered the game’s No. 1 prop, but, according to coach Ricky Stuart, will retire as one of the club’s greatest players. And at around $660,000, the contract can also be considered one of the league’s shrewdest.
Grading: Worth it.
Josh Addo-Carr, 26 (Bulldogs)
$550,000 ends in 2025
Established himself as the game’s premier wingers with Melbourne, before a desire to return to Sydney resulted in Canterbury making him one of the key planks in their rebuild. His infectious persona will also be crucial in a team sorely lacking leadership.
Grading: Worth it.
Dale Finucane, 30 (Sharks)
$750,000 ends in 2025
Had his pick of at least four clubs before settling on the Shire, where he’ll enjoy a strong bond with new coach Craig Fitzgibbon. One of the game’s best middle forwards, but his true value extends to culture-setting and leadership. Fourth and final year is at a cut-price rate.
Grading: Worth it.
Cameron McInnes, 27 (Sharks)
$600,000 ends in 2025
McInnes, stunned many when he announced his departure from Wollongong, just months after the arrival of coach Anthony Griffin. The Sharks already have a hooker in Blayke Brailey, however McInnes, on the comeback from an ACL injury, has forged a reputation on toughness and grit.
Grading: Wait and see.
AJ Brimson, 23 (Titans)
$600,000 ends in 2025
The Titans have showed a lot of faith in handing the 23-year-old local product a five-year deal, hoping that he’ll blossom into one of the game’s bona fide superstars next season in the unfamiliar position of five-eighth, where he has played just 15 of his 63 games so far.
Grading: Wait and see.
Tom Trbojevic, 25 (Sea Eagles)
$1,100,000 end of 2026
Currently in the second of a mammoth six-year deal he signed at the end of the 2019, two years before a memorable run of form some of have labelled the best by any individual in the history of the game.
Grading: Worth it.
Jake Trbojevic, 27 (Sea Eagles)
$900,000 end of 2026
The NSW and Kangaroos representative was signed as a package deal with brother Tom, when coach Des Hasler labelled the pair as “fashioned as part of the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles silk.”
Grading: Worth it.
Daniel Saifiti, 25 (Knights)
End of 2026
Re-signed midway through this year alongside twin brother Jacob, who only got a two-year extension while Daniel secured a deal until the end of the 2026 season to be the cornerstone of the Knights forward pack, as well as the NSW State of Origin team.
Grading: Worth it.
Jayden Brailey, 25 (Knights)
End of 2026
Played just two games of his first season in Newcastle last year due to an ACL injury, but the Knights saw enough in 2021 to extend his deal all the way to the end of the 2025 season.
“This contract comes at a sweet spot in Jayden’s career which will benefit the Club greatly over the next four years,” Knights GM Danny Buderus said.
Grading: Worth it.
Jason Taumalolo, 28 (Cowboys)
$950,000 end of 2027
Eighteen months after powering the Cowboys to their maiden premiership, and not long after being crowned the Dally M medal, Taumalolo was rewarded with one of the longest and richest deals in NRL history. However his form has dipped the past two seasons.
Grading: Wait and see.
Valentine Holmes, 26 (Cowboys)
$750,000 end of 2025
Welcomed back with open arms following his failed NFL stint, complete with a six-year deal worth around $6 million to be the Cowboys’ main attacking star. But has struggled to recapture his pre-NFL form, and was shunted to the wing last season.
Grading: Risk.
James Fisher-Harris, 25 (Panthers)
$750,000 end of 2025
His emergence as one of the game’s best front-rowers has mirrored the Panthers’ rise to the premiership, prompting Penrith boss to declare: “If there was ever a person fit for the purpose [of a long-term deal] it would be him.”
Grading: Worth it.
Zac Lomax, 22 (Dragons)
$500,000 end of 2026
Rejected interest from a handful of clubs to sign a monster six-year extension two years ago, despite being just 20 years of age. Long earmarked as a future goalkicking star centre with serious aerial prowess, but, like the Dragons, hasn’t seen the finals in three years.
Grading: Wait and see.
Cameron Murray, 23 (Rabbitohs)
$650,000 end of 2025
A lengthy deal with their local junior was a no-brainer for the Rabbitohs, who could appoint the NSW State of Origin and Kangaroos star as captain next season. One of the best forwards in the competition on a bargain deal.
Grading: Steal.
Lindsay Collins, 25 (Roosters)
End of 2026
Had just torn his ACL and had another two years remaining on his deal, but the Roosters went on the front foot to tie down their Queensland State of Origin prop for another four years. The heir to the Jared Waerea-Hargreaves throne.
Grading: Wait and see.
David Nofoaluma, 27 (Wests Tigers)
$535,000 end of 2025
One of the game’s top wingers due to his tackle-busting ability, the local junior tested his value on the open market before recommitting on a lucrative deal that sets him up to finish as a rare one-club player.
Grading: Worth it.
Ryan Papenhuyzen, 23 (Storm)
End of 2025
Papenhuyzen may have been battling concussion issues earlier this year, but it mattered little to the Storm. He also hadn’t even reached 50 games, but a scintillating opening six weeks to 2021 was enough to convince them to move quickly, pinning their star fullback down for another three years.
Grading: Wait and see.
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