I'll broach the elephant in the room. Parra's last game of 2025 (barring a miracle) is on Sunday the 7th of September at 4pm against the Knights at CommBank.
Do we give Dylan Brown one final send off before he heads to the Hunter with his squillions? A final lap of honour after the siren?
Whatever you think of him, he's been a loyal servant to the club for the past eight years.
Alternatively, we continue to ignore him and pretend the whole thing never happened.
Thoughts?
Replies
Im sure other players have knocked back equally as enticing offers relevant to the scale of their days. The Cam Smiths, Thurstons and Co , even the Andrew Johns's would've had some money thrown at them that'd make your eyes water for their era. It's not like he would die if he didn't take it. I'm all for him fucking off, don't get me wrong, but I'm a bit sick of everyone acting like he had a gun to his head. If he was loyal, he wouldn't have even fielded offers . The deal he had with us was already the best deal in the comp.
If he was prepared to back himself, I'd even go as far as saying he could potentially earn more money over the next decade. But he's more intrested in sitting on his arse and taking the free easy cash , that's why he took it. Poor old Newcastle gone and faaaarked up. They literally came to our place and bought our shitbox car with a blown engine and paid new car prices. Peter O Sulivan will move on in 2 years and leave them with it.
Wiz, this may be the only time this has ever happened in regards to Dylan Brown, but I agree.
LB, get where you are coming from, but I also feel the amount of $$ is a bit of a cop-out.
DB was set to earn over 1 million at Parra if he stayed, thats pretty damn good money for a player who isn't able to step into the halfback role, at leat at this stage.
DB made his decision and thats completely fine, no hard feelings, but, interested to see how this plays out.
Sometimes, money isn't everything, and this could very well backfire over the next two years at Newcastle, whereas at Parra, he could've cruised behind Moses and still earned very good money & helped be part of something bigger.
The Eels are on their way up, there is no denying it, whereas the Knights could be in trouble, and we've seen no matter how hard Dylan tries on the field, he isn't capable of turning around a struggling club (few players are).
Honestly feel there would be some concern or regret in DB's decision watching this team revitialise behind the scenes off the back of the comaradarie & spirit JR is instilling.
I loved DB as a player, but he's not irreplaceable, Moses is.
Johnny, is this really the 'elephant in the room' though? Or is that elephant the fact we haven't replaced him?
I get this may the the best deal that's ever been offered ( I disagree but Anywhoo ) , right here right now , with the length of time etc. my point is that in the early 2000's when union was talking about offering John's a million bucks , that was also totally unheard of type coin. To scale , he probaly knocked back similar crazy enticements to stay at Newcastle is all I'm saying.
Browns seems crazy now , like he's the best player to ever receive an offer, but when you put it in perspective that DCE got a decade deal for a million a season a decade ago , meh , Browns is just ok. In 10 years Browns money will be shit to just ok for a half . Cherrys deal 10 years ago would be like getting 2 million today. Browns deal only seems so crazy because he's shit. Tell me I'm wrong. If he was good , say Moses or Cleary people would be saying he's a bit of a fool.
Anyone who thinks Browns stupid if he didn't take the deal is obviously admitting they think he's shit.
I just thought it was odd that it hadn't been mentioned. Again, no matter what you think of him, he's been one of our best for the past few years. This is an observation more than fact, but he appears very popular with young fans. My 12-year-old daughter adores him. As a comparison, would the Storm totally ignore Munster if he left for the Bears? I very much doubt it.
As an aside, if things go really arse up, there's nothing to say that final game against the Novocastrians won't be for the spoon!!!!
DB is great with kids, has been one of our best in autographs & taking that time etc. and he's apparently been great behind the scenes through all this, Mitch Moses said this in a DT article:
'While Brown has been forced to the sidelines, Moses revealed the 25-year-old has been playing a crucial role in guiding the club’s next crop of NRL hopefuls.
“He’s selfless. The way he has been around the club is pretty unbelievable to be honest,” Moses said.
“His leadership to be able to accept being replaced and take a back seat just to let this club grow, speaks volumes of the person he is.
“He hasn’t been kicking stones, he’s bought a lot of energy, he’s even still helping at training, especially with the young kids.”'
Truth is, he is not the person so many on this site want to believe he is. His persona in interviews / media doesn't seem to truly reflect who he is - which also falls on him.
Agree, he was one of our best in 2024 & 2023 (before & after the incident), but he also did very little on the field in 2025 to earn a sendoff?
Munster has given the Storm a lot of seasons, Grand Finals & Premierships, and is moving towards the end of his career. Dylans, as a half, is really just getting started.
The club stood by him through 2023, as the Storm stood by Munster's off-field incidents, DB moves on while Munster knocked back a huge Dolphins offer to stay at Melbourne?
Of course, that was easier than what DB was looking to stay with, when DB made his decision the Eels were a mess, new coach, halfback injured, a lot of change etc.
JR might see it as you do & give him one last game.
100
He is still being paid by the club and should be willing to do "duties as directed". If that is no longer playing and involves mentoring the less experienced players at training then so be it.
If he wasn't willing to do that then perhaps we could've suggested to him that he volunteer to end his contract early.
Absolutely agree, but, not all players in this situation do, Badge.
Point is, what Moses is saying, doesn't really align with this sites narrative. We really don't know what any of these players are truly like behind the scenes & it is good to hear DB is helping these young 5/8ths.
He is a loss, but after what we've seen in 2025 with the Eels attack, it is exciting to see what JR & co can bring to the position.
So do we play him for some kind of nostalgic purposes at risk of losing to Newcastle and claiming a spoon ? Is his final shin dig that he'll forget in a few days , worth the next hundred plus years on record as 2025 being an Eels wooden spoon ?
Because it seems we are a better team without him right now.
Spoon should be put to bed long before that, we need to finish the season strong and cowboy's rabbits we should handle. Roosters Warriors also winnable.
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