Earlier this year we dropped a Kiwi-NRL Spotlight about Dylan Brown's steady development and since then, Brown has settled into his best season of NRL footy. This featured Brown's debut for Aotearoa Kiwis and the Northland junior was typically slick as he posed a consistent run threat, grabbed two try assists and made 27 tackles without a single missed tackle.

When Brown returned to Eels after playing for Aotearoa he registered a try assist in each of the next five games. More recently Eels played two games without Mitchell Moses and after kicking more than 100m in just three games prior, Brown registered 193 kicking metres and 118 kicking metres. This was the first time this season in which Brown had 100+ kicking metres and a forced drop out in consecutive games.

Brown also had over 100 running metres in those two games, although that is what Brown does nearly every game in the NRL. In his fourth season Brown is averaging the most running metres per game of his career, while also blowing away his previous best marks for tries, try assists and offloads...

2019: 4 tries | 5 try assists | 6 offloads | 79m/game.

2020: 4 tries | 5 try assists | 7 offloads | 116m/game.

2021: 4 tries | 2 try assists | 6 offloads | 98m/game.

2022: 10 tries | 15 try assists | 14 offloads | 121m/game.

The basic Brown package of running and tackling could be a key factor for Eels heading into finals footy. Not many halves run the footy like Brown, in fact Adam Douehi (105m) and Nicho Hynes (126m) are the only other halves in the same 100+ metres per game realm as Brown. For Kiwis context we can compare Brown to Shaun Johnson (54m), Kieran Foran (76m) and Jahrome Hughes (94m).

Brown's skillset ensures that if he's running, he is more likely to grab tries and try assists. Brown has footwork, great hands and a decent kicking game to pounce on every opportunity that stems from him running. Finals footy is tighter than the regular season and teams will always pick low-hanging fruit such as targeting a weak defensive half - none of which can happen for Brown as he is among the best defensive halves in the NRL.

Brown has made 539 tackles @ 93.7 percent efficiency with 36 missed tackles this season. Since his debut in 2010 Jesse Bromwich has never missed more than 50 tackles in a season and Brown's creeping in a similar direction, making 300+ tackles with less than 40 missed tackles in each of his four campaigns. This improves to 450+ tackles made and less than 40 missed tackles in his last three years.

19 players have missed 70+ tackles this season and nine of them are starting halves. Brown has never missed more than 40 tackles. That is on display every week for Eels and Brown rolled out this recipe in his Aotearoa Kiwis debut, which will now be tested in another finals push for Eels. Regardless of how one feels about the Eels as a championship threat, they haven't had this version of Brown and his development could be the boost Eels need.

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