Clint Gutherson has played his last game at fullback.
That is not something that has been confirmed by the club, but it should be.
The former Parramatta Eel and now leader of the Dragons has been well below his best this year, but that's not particularly an enormous surprise.
It has been speculated since his final days at the Eels that he was going to struggle to see out much more than another 12 months at the back given his long running injury issues and age, and while the signs were there last year that things were slowing down, they have well and truly hit a wall in 2026.
Gutherson himself was defiant about staying at the back when quizzed by the media last week, but then the game against the Cowboys on Saturday evening happened.
The Dragons were held scoreless. Gutherson was hardly the entire blame of the situation. The Dragons offered nothing in attack and defended woefully.
As I said after the game, it's time for a clean out of the joint-venture, and it's not just head coach Shane Flanagan who needs to be finding a new place to work.
But Gutherson was very, very poor, and that's not the first time he has been well below his best - or even what you might expect to be his best - in 2026.
The Dragons fullback was out of position in defence, struggled to move laterally in stopping breaks, made poor decisions, and added nothing to a sputtering, awful attack that has been described as one of the worst in recent times.
The issue the Red V face is this: The fullback is the most important position in the modern game.
Running the ball from the back, popping up in attack, reading plays well and being able to move in defence. You only need to look at the difference between Clint Gutherson and James Tedesco to know what the Dragons were missing.
Now, Tedesco is a freak, and has been the best fullback in the game for a very long time, but that doesn't mean what Gutherson dished up on Saturday at Kogarah is acceptable.
The issue for the Dragons though in moving forward is that they need Gutherson's experience around the squad. He is contracted until the end of 2027 and certainly isn't going to spend the rest of this season and all of the next one in reserve grade.
An injury to deal with in the interim might give the club a few weeks to sort out what they are doing, but they need to find Gutherson a new role, with Tyrell Sloan likely to take over at fullback in the short-term.
The only other positions you could conceivably play Gutherson in are the centres or five-eighth.
The centres are probably out given his slow down in lateral movement. Not to say Valentine Holmes has been going well, and in a lot of fan's eyes, he also needs to be dropped, but Gutherson will be cannon fodder for the best attacking centres in the competition.
At five-eighth, there is another issue. Daniel Atkinson needs to play there. Whether it's Kade Reed coming in at halfback, or you find another way around it, maybe with the return of Kyle Flanagan in a few weeks, Atkinson, like Gutherson needs to be shuffled.
Atkinson's only dangerous moment on Saturday night was a first half line break, and his game management was worth nothing.
The only other way to keep Gutherson in the side is playing him as an impact utility off the bench - maybe not the worst idea.
The Dragons, who have reportedly put a contract freeze on internal contracts, have been linked to a number of fullbacks on the open market which really should tell you all you need to know about the way they view their incumbent number one.
While the refusal to offer Cody Ramsey a new deal at the end of 2025 was mind boggling, the Dragons have now been linked to Jahream Bula, Scott Drinkwater and Trai Fuller.
Fuller would be the immediate quick fix, but the club are reportedly hesitant to offer him 2027 as well as an immediate move, with a clause in his deal allowing him to leave the Dolphins for a certain amount of money.
If the Dragons think they are going to land Drinkwater, who is contracted at the Cowboys until the end of 2027 but on the outer, or Bula, then that probably makes sense.
If not, then the bank needs to be thrown at Fuller. The club's staff clearly don't rate Tyrell Sloan, so Fuller is potentially the only option, unless they are prepared to write off this year.
Fuller has been linked to other clubs in Australia and England, so the Dragons need to move quickly.
The Drinkwater rumours potentially work on two sides of the coin, with the club able to play him at either one or six, while Bula, as fanciful as it seems, is still an option given he is yet to commit long-term to the Tigers in something that will worry the Concord-based club.
Whichever way the Dragons go, a change is needed at the back immediately, among others, with the contract situation to play out over the coming weeks.
