‘No regrets’ as Brown prepares to join wooden spooners
Jasper Bruce |
Dylan Brown is excited for the pressure that will come with his multi-million dollar move to Newcastle, insisting he harbours no regrets over joining the newly-minted wooden spooners.
The enormity of Brown’s task to resuscitate the Knights was laid bare on Sunday afternoon as the five-eighth helped inflict a 66-10 drubbing on them in his final game for Parramatta.
The result sealed a last-placed finish for Newcastle, who are yet to confirm Adam O’Brien’s replacement as coach for next season.
Amid the uncertainty, there is plenty of expectation on Brown to gel with gun fullback Kalyn Ponga, possibly as a game-managing halfback, and to justify the richest deal in NRL history.
That won’t faze the 25-year-old, who will be paid a reported $14 million across 10 years.
“Obviously there’s going to be pressure but I’m excited for it,” Brown said.
“When pressure comes, it’s just falling back on those things that we do in the pre-season. I’m going up there to work hard and do what I do best and bring that to the team.”
Brown arrives at a Knights side at their lowest ebb since collecting three consecutive wooden spoons in the 2010s.
“As the year’s gone on they’ve had a lot of injuries, and obviously once you start getting into a bit of a slump, it’s sort of hard to come out,” Brown said.
“I’ll take the positives out of the start of the year and the ability they have.”
Newcastle’s attack was a problem throughout the season.
They were held scoreless in 11 halves, while the 66 points conceded against Parramatta was the club’s most in any game since 2007.
O’Brien called it a “bitterly disappointing” way to end the campaign.
But Brown has had no second thoughts about joining Newcastle, saying he only needed to look at the 2025 Eels for proof a club’s fortunes can turn around quickly.
Parramatta narrowly avoided their own wooden spoon last year and faced uncertainty with rookie coach Jason Ryles arriving as coach.
But the Eels improved to 11th place on the ladder and appear ready to challenge for finals in 2026 after finishing the season as one of the NRL’s form teams.
“There’s been no regrets,” Brown said.
“The (Eels) boys have done some great things this year at this club so I’ve seen first-hand what it’s like to go from the bottom and going up.
“It’s the same with Newy. It’s a fresh start, there’s new coaches, there’s new everything. It’s a clean slate and I’m pretty excited.”
Brown said he left Parramatta on good terms with Ryles after the coach unseated him from his preferred five-eighth spot for seven straight games late in the year.
The departing Eel felt it was the correct call to begin preparing Joash Papalii to become Mitch Moses’ full-time halves partner in 2026.
“(Ryles) has got to focus on his future and I’m not in that. He decided to put his time into Joash and I think that was the right thing to do,” Brown said.
AAP
