Happy man on a mission: Gutho primed for Parra's title tilt

Eels captain Clint Gutherson can be a polarising figure in the NRL, but love him or loathe him, he’s never been happier ahead of Parramatta's most important finals series in their club's history.

Gutherson makes a conscious effort to let his social media followers know how good life is with every post he delivers, and more often than not it’s his Eels teammates who are responding.

Away from the pressures of trying to guide Parramatta to a drought-breaking premiership over the next month, Gutherson is a father of newborn daughter Romy and takes life in his stride.

“My balance between life and footy at the moment is really good,” Gutherson told NRL.com on the eve of the 2022 finals series.

“Life is always good. I’ve been saying that a bit lately because it is, you’ve just got to enjoy it, the ups and downs, take it all in.

“I don’t think being a dad has changed much for me on the field, it’s just life. My footy is probably coming off the back of being happy and that’s what you want.

“[Fatherhood] is going good. She’s almost nine months now and the whole year has gone quick.

“You have your good and bad days but I’m loving it, you get home from training and she’s got a smile on her face and in the end that’s all that really matters.”

The first step on Parramatta's road to ending a 36-year drought comes against the Panthers on Friday night, with the skipper knowing if they can upset the premiers for a third time this season they’re well on their way to the promised land.

Parramatta and Melbourne are the only two clubs who have beaten the Panthers at BlueBet Stadium this season with the Eels coming into their fourth-straight finals with a clean bill of health.

“We’re playing good footy at the right time of the year but it doesn’t mean anything now, we’ve got to make sure it counts,” Gutherson said.

“After the Souths game [in round 22] we sat down and spoke about what we wanted out of this year and since then I think everyone has bought into that.

“It gives us some belief that we’ve beaten Penrith before, it’s a team you want to be able to beat and they’ll be thinking the same thing with us.

“These are the games you want to play in, it’s the Battle of the West, in a massive semi-final, it doesn’t get any bigger for the fans and for us as players there’s no better time to be playing.”

The battle of the fullbacks will be among the highlights of the evening with Gutherson and Dylan Edwards producing stellar seasons to help their clubs into the top four.

“He’s a great player, I haven’t had much to do with him but he’s a competitor and does so much work for them at the back,” Gutherson said.

“I think he’s been one of the form fullbacks for the year. As a fullback you want to challenge yourself against the best. He’s probably the unsung hero in that team.”