When a halves combination wins an NRL Premiership and remains in tact for the following season, trying to squeeze into one of those halves spots is incredibly difficult. That's the challenge facing Samoan international and Christchurch's hottest young NRL prospect Fa'amanu Brown as he looks to continue his development, without much clarity around his role with the Cronulla Sharks.

Since making his NRL debut back in 2014, Brown has been on the radar of many good NRL judges. He combines silky play-making down the left with a dynamic running game - which is mandatory for any NRL half - and in the two games that Brown started in the halves for Cronulla this season, he had 44m from 4 runs and 52m from 7 runs.

Brown also came off the bench in two games, however it's the two games in which Brown started at five-eighth that stand out like a sore thumb as he did a fine job in filling James Maloney's boots. With Brown starting, Cronulla beat Penrith in Round 18 and then beat Newcastle in Round 20; Brown stacked up the running metres in these two games.

While Maloney and Chad Townsend did a fine job in steering Cronulla around the park - also serving up some razzle dazzle in attack mainly thanks to Maloney - Brown kinda just became known as the dude who put his iPhone in the microwave. Despite impressive performances whenver he's been asked to step up to the NRL, Brown still appears to be lurking in the 'no man's land' between NRL footy and reserve grade. The reality is that as a 21-year-old, Brown is in need of spending some time in that in-between zone as he stacks up consistent minutes, gaining experience in a crucial position.

There's immense upside for Brown and he has a long-term NRL future in the halves ahead of him, yet it's never that simple. Brown apparently only has a year to go on his current contract with Cronulla and is one of many Sharks players who is off-contract after the 2017 season, meaning that Brown is going to be playing for a new contract and it's hard to demand buzz for a contract - with the Sharks or elsewhere - when you are restricted to plying your trade in reserve grade.

Congratulations Fa'amanu Brown, leading point scorer for 2016, with 138 points from 14 tries and 41 goals.
— Newtown Jets (@newtownrlfc) October 5, 2016

Many teams could do with a classy young half though, so I suspect that Newtown Jets games with Brown in the halves will be scouted carefully by rival NRL clubs. Rival NRL clubs will be circling because Brown is not only stuck behind Maloney and Townsend, Jack Bird will also fancy himself as a future halves partner of Townsend and the Sharks are going to have to offload a bunch of players to seal the signatures of guys like Bird, Townsend, Valentine Holmes, Wade Graham, Sosaia Feki.

Brown is clearly a gifted young half, it's just that I can't see Cronulla making him a priority as they look at reshuffling their roster; not with the money they will need to spend.

There was noise from Brown about doing a job in the middle of the field, possibly as a lock where his low key size - he's 184cm, Gallen's 180cm - would help him handle the craziness of the middle with his skill capable of giving the Sharks a funky edge on attack. The NRL now requires nippy middle forwards to get in-behind the ruck and there's a chance that Brown makes that his niche, unlikely though.

Brown could also make a bench-utility role his niche as he came off the bench in two of his games this season and can play hooker reasonably well. As I said in the Matt & Manaia thingy from last week, Cronulla are fairly stacked at dummy half though and Brown would need to be a better dummy half option than Daniel Mortimer (who can play half as well), Manaia Cherrington and Jayden Brailey.

Right now, in November, it's difficult to see where Brown fits into a top-17 for Cronulla and that's far from ideal when you are playing for a new contract. That sets this summer up as a massive one for Brown as he'll need to impress in whatever role coach Shane Flanagan wants him to do.

From Cronulla's perspective, Brown will be crucial to their hopes of maintaining their perch above the rest of the NRL as Brown gives the Sharks depth. Maloney will probably play Origin footy and Brown can slot into the halves without taking anything away from the Sharks; just having a quality half offering depth in case of injury or suspension is a luxury in the NRL.

The flipside is that Brown will probably want more and more NRL minutes, which I can't see happening at Cronulla and this opens the possibility of Brown hitting the market for the 2018 season. If that happens, Brown will undoubtedly be a hot commodity and there should be many NRL teams chasing his signature. Until that time, we play the waiting game and look forward to seeing Brown play a massive role in the Auckland Nines.

There's also the possibility that Brown will partner Anthony Milford in the halves for Samoa come World Cup time next year. Don't sleep on that.