With news breaking on Thursday that Parramatta wanted to wait until midway next year before deciding whether they would offer Gutherson an extension beyond the 2025 season, the writing was writ large on the blue and gold wall.

The 30-year-old skipper is on the outer and he won’t be stopped from getting straight outta Parra if he can strike a deal elsewhere in the off-season.

And the Dragons have the salary cap space to absorb a large chunk of the final year of his Eels deal, reportedly worth only a fraction south of a million dollars.

Parra are putting their faith in Panthers recruit Isaiah Iongi to be their long-term fullback, which in itself is a risky move given that he is 21-year-old with precisely one NRL game under his belt.

The former Queensland under-19 representative is a top prospect but even if he lives up to the hype, such is the importance of the fullback’s role in the modern game, it usually takes plenty of time before they are the finished product.

Just ask Dragons fans.

Tyrell Sloan is just a year older than Iongi at 22 but he has four NRL seasons under his belt after making his debut in 2021.

He was in and out of first grade in his first two seasons with former coach Anthony Griffin adamant that he was not ready for the demands of first grade.

Like a lot of things during his not quite three-year stint at the club, Griffin had his reasons but was ultimately wrong.

Sloan was obviously going to make plenty of mistakes at the back but the Dragons were never going to be challenging for the playoffs with the roster they had under Griffin.

They may as well have given him more than the five games he got in his rookie season and eight the following year to experience the growing pains that come with finding your feet at the elite level.

Sloan played the full season last year and another 23 games in 2024 and has shown he is an excellent attacking option but he is still yet to show he is up to the unique defensive task that comes with the No.1 jersey.

You don’t have to make a lot of tackles and it’s a tough gig when you are isolated one on one with the other team on the attack or you need to put your body on the line on your goal line.

But when you need to defend, you need to make it count. And that’s where Sloan has let himself and his team down.

Gutherson will not do that if he gets snapped up by the Dragons.

He is definitely one of the slower fullbacks running around but his effort on effort is up there with the game’s best player in the position, Dylan Edwards.

If they can pick up Josh Addo-Carr from the Bulldogs when the club resolves whether to keep him around, the Dragons could have a back three of Gutherson with the Foxx and Sloan on the flanks.

Throw in Cowboys recruit Valentine Holmes and Moses Suli in the centres and it’s a very strong back five.

And if Sloan is not happy about being shunted to the wing, he has two options – the easy one, which will be to ask for a release to try to get a start elsewhere or to prove the Dragons wrong and show he can be the fullback they need at both ends of the field.

The Eels intend to use Gutherson as a utility option, either off the bench or a small-ball lock, if they keep him on the books next season.

He wouldn’t be a bad five-eighth for the Dragons alongside Ben Hunt with Kyle Flanagan slotting in as a bench option who can cover the halves and hooker.

With Damien Cook rejoining the club to vie with Jacob Liddle for the starting hooker’s job, St George Illawarra suddenly have a missing ingredient from recent season – genuine competition for the key spots in the spine.

They are still lacking a powerful middle forward leader after missing out on Stefano Utoikamanu, Daniel Saifiti and Reagan Campbell-Gillard but the Red V wasn’t built in a day.

If they can add Gutherson it will be another building block added to Shane Flanagan’s evolving venture at the joint.

It could cost them Sloan but it could also unlock his potential once and for all with Gutherson settling into another role whether that ends up being on the wing himself or in the centres, halves or as a utility.