Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: Dylan Brown's Steady Development
Parramatta Eels are one of the better NRL teams who steadily stack wins with mahi from a hearty Kiwi-NRL crew led by Hikurangi Stags (Whangarei) junior Dylan Brown. Autumn brings Eels intrigue as I explored a bunch of different Kiwi-NRL angles for Eels this time last year. As these Kiwi-NRL Spotlight things are designed to be crisp, shorter nuggets of footy goodness from Aotearoa, I won't serve up the whole Dylan Brown yarn but here are the basics…
Brown is from a brewing Kiwi-NRL hub in Northland. He is yet to play for Aotearoa but could be a starting half for Aotearoa at the World Cup. Best tackling half in the NRL? Nifty runner, decent kicker.
One thing stands out from the first three rounds of footy as Eels sit 6th (2-1) and Brown has 4 Try Assists. Brown had a TA in each of the first two games, then 2 TA against Storm. The first had Brown boosting past starting Kiwis halves contender Jahrome Hughes (Harbour City Eagles), then Brown threw a cut out pass to put Waqa Blake into space.
Brown is the only bloke with 4 TA. Mitchell Moses and Tom Dearden have 5 TA each. Eels have both their starting halves in the top-three, but Eels are 5th in tries scored so it's not like they have the most TA because their team has scored the most tries. Why is this funky for Brown? His best TA seasons were in 2019 and 2020 when he had 5 TA. Brown appears on track to pass his best TA seasons within the first few rounds.
Brown is 21-years-old and has played 57 games. Very few young players have settled into NRL footy like Brown and this is because he ticks all the basic-halves-play boxes. Brown averaged 116 Running Metres per game and 109.91 Kicking Metres per game in his second season. Brown is yet to miss more than 40 tackles in his four seasons and for context, Eels halves partner Moses has missed more than 50 tackles for five consecutive seasons.
Young halves footy doesn't get much more solid than Brown's first four seasons. Development is required though and helping blokes score tries is his best pocket for easy mahi development. Early signs suggest Brown is adding to his game and the wider Eels mix is important to note here...
Brown, Moses and Clint Gutherson work well together. Moses racks up TA and can control a game via his right boot. Gutherson hit 20 TA last year - Brown's never had more than 5 TA. Each plays their role and coach Brad Arthur likes to shift lads around which has been most evident in Moses and Brown swapping left/right edge from season to season. Brown is currently on the left and his TA have increased while Gutherson has 1 TA this season.
It felt like Brown passed the ball to Gutherson, as he stuck to his basic mahi in previous seasons. Brown threw the long TA pass vs Storm and part of this season's shift may be Brown player wider in certain plays, allowing Gutherson to roam. I dunno. My Kiwi-NRL vibe is all about Brown elevating his game and in a World Cup year, Brown is yet another high calibre young talent fizzing for international footy.
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