It's tempting to look at today's announcement that Dylan Brown's contract upgrade represents a missed opportunity to upgrade the exciting young playmaker to a longer deal.
To date, Brown has passed every test thrown at him. He has moved through the junior ranks at an accelerated pace, almost immediately stepping up to the new level he's been asked to tackle.
That's the sign of a special player. Hence, why a guy who hasn't even played first grade yet manages to make the front page of Sydney's biggest newspaper today.
It's far more common for young players to move up in a series of plateaus. They excite playing at their own age level, get moved up to the next and then they need the year of playing up to get used to the bigger, faster competition and the increased demands of the training regime. They get used to it, and then step up again. As the player gets older those plateaus tend to be longer and it's always been my theory that those players who have been hyped up through the juniors, don't learn the same kind of resilience as those players who have had to work harder, far earlier in their careers.
Brown has not had a plateau. He's moved through every age bracket, and now into the NRL without needing that development period. Nor does he seem to have any glaring weaknesses. He appears to be both physically and mentally strong, and all parts of his game are ridiculously well developed considering his age.
If ever there was a player that seemed a safe bet to bank on as a future marquee player (and his name isn't Kayln Ponga) then it would appear to be Dylan Brown. As such, many fans are calling for Parramatta to throw an immediate lucractive, long-term contract at Brown.
However, make no mistake that this signing is a necessary first step in tying him up to the club longer-term. And only when you understand the rules related to development players does it help to understand why the club and player may have chosen not to sign a longer deal.
What is not commonly understood is that there is a restriction on players moving from development status to top 30 status. When a player is moved out of the development ranks, they can only move into one of the bottom seven positions in your Top 30.
As such Brown this year, will move from a development contract that would be around the $60k figure mark to edging into the six-figure bracket.
As such, the club wasn't in a position to offer a four to five year deal with an immediate sizable upgrade. The club was probably in a financial position where it could have offered a five-year, $400k starting from this year. However, the development rules preclude it from doing so.
Now that he in the Top 30, the club will be in a position to offer him an upgrade on his final contracted year in 2020. That's the real significance of today's announcement. Had he completed the year in the development ranks then we would have had no ability to use next year's contract to give us an advantage over other clubs in signing him for 2021 and onwards. The stupidity of the current rule is had we let Brown's contract slip into its final year, we would only have been able to offer a bottom 7 slot, while any other club could have offered him anything they wanted.
As it stands Brown is shaping up as a $500k+ player on a $100k contract for 2020. We've got the rest of the playing year to figure out exactly how good he is, and how much he is going to warrant paying forward before attempting to tie him up long-term. Technically, other clubs can't even approach him before we get to that make that decision, so despite the modest upgrade that has been announced, we remain in the box seat to keep him at the club well into next decade.
No doubt, part of the attraction for Brown will be to continue playing with the boys that he's already played with as they have progressed through the junior ranks - Mahoney, Kaufusi, Utoikamanu, Perry, etc. And no doubt, Brown's retention will assist in keeping those boys at the club as well. 2019 really does represent a complete generational transition for the Eels - and the club's future fortunes through the first half of the next decade will almost certainly be tied to the trajectory those players take as they move into the senior football ranks.
Comments
Absouloutly phil. This upgrade means absolutely zero until we extend him. .He may be on a better deal, but until we nail Brown down, his worth will only skyrocket.
You completely missed the point of Phil’s post. The upgrade is absolutely necessary BEFORE we can extend him, so it means everything.
Derr. Of course we were going to upgrade him as he is now playing nrl.
sorry bout that derp
Read it again
But isn't there a big risk that if Brown kills it this year, attracts interest from everybody, and then decides based on the encouragement of his manager to hold off on any contract talks until the end of this season in regards to an extension. Of course by that stage he'd be a free agent and we'd be forced into a bidding war with other clubs to keep him. You're not concerned about this?
That is an unavoidable risk. There is literally nothing we can do about that except provide him with every reason to stay.
How in the hell do you know that the Eels have not been trying to do just that and Browns people might have said to him you have got your upgrade for the time being so let’s see what ls going to be offered by everyone when the time comes .his manager would not be doing his job if this was not the case so who knows
I think all persons involved in his ongoing negotiations are fairly aware of how the future might play out and what his worth might be down the track. I agree we should take a risk and get him on a long term contract sooner rather than later but unfortunately we don't have a whole lot of leverage at the negotiating table. And of course everyone would whinge if we did pull it off that we signed a rookie with zero games experience on ridiculous dollars for so many years. Can't win.
As I said him and his manager have got to want to do it
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