Eels Blogs

As Blue & Gold fans, we can be quick to negativity & criticism, a frustration likely developed through 38 years of starvation.

For many, who are quick to criticise, Dylan is currently pouring fuel on his own fire, feeding his own negative PR.

For those who are fans of Dylan, the player, who watched his rise to exceptional from in Round 12 2023 against South Sydney, only to then witness his much publicised off-field incident directly afterwards, drawing a line through his own & the Eels season, this contract process is harder to swallow as we look forward to his continued on-feild rise in 2025.

It's frustrating, but we have to remain patient, and understand that from our perspective as passionate fans we are simply not privy to any trustworthy information - Eels are click bait, and the stories will keep coming.

FINANCIAL

While we do not know the exact details, It certainly appears that the Eels are holding firm on their offer as they likely look to remove clauses from his contract.

It’s a very refreshing stance by Parra, and we have to commend them for it.

Though, digging deeper, if Dylan were to walk from the Eels, is 900k savings per year really a positive as many claim?

The Eels lose millions in development, and more importantly (for us as fans), we lose valuable time, years, of development & growth of combinations, especially with Mitch Moses.

Removing Dylan from this Eels team might allow 900k a season to go to market, but, unless we are able to purchase a like for like replacement, which is incredibly unlikely, we infinitely go backwards at 5/8th.

What is the real price of that loss, when you consider…

THE EELS SPINE

The Eels will be running inexperience at two vital spine positions with Iongi at fullback, and Brendan Hands at hooker, unless we go to market for a dummy half.

Albeit talented, and an exciting change at fullback, these two are both still very raw. Adding another inexperienced member of the spine at five-eighth, and we are essentially rebuilding, or at best renovating, and, does that renovation period outlast the time Mitch Moses has in the game?

I hear you, we can go to market for another 5/8th, preventing the above.

Unless that is Tom Dearden or Jerome Luai (very unlikely), its going to take time for whoever that would be to gel.

Time we have, but does Mitch?

THE MITCH MOSES EFFECT

‘I feel like I play my best footy with Dylan, he knows I love playing with him, and I think everyone else in the team loves playing with him, so he knows where we all stand.’ - Mitch Moses.

With Dylan & Mitch on the field, something that has been far too rare over the past few seasons, the Eels have a halves combination capable of competing for Premierships in coming years.

These two compliment each other perfectly. Its rare, and needs to be valued.

What impact does removing Dylan Brown have on Moses?

With DB & Mitch the Eels have two very dangerous halves for oppositions to strategise for & work hard to cover both sides of the field. This forces defences to be over thinking, over working, it creates fatigue.

One of the biggest concerns with removing Dylan is the pressure it will apply to Moses. All of a sudden, defences can target Mitch, as they did with Dylan last season, it likely impacts the freedom he currently plays with.

But, just how much of a threat is Dylan Brown?

2024 ‘THE NUMBERS'

‘Whether he is good form or bad form, Dylan Brown is an absolute threat on the team sheet when playing Parramatta, so for me he’s already in that top bracket of players’ - Cooper Cronk

There has been a thought process amongst many that he ‘underachieved’ last season at best, and was a ‘complete failure’ at worst, and has not improved at all since 2022. We've heard it all.

Do the numbers back these claims?

’An argument could be made for Brown being the best performing five-eighth in the competition last season - Fox sports guru Aaron Wallace.

‘If Brown wasn’t the form five-eight last year, he was pretty close, the numbers suggest so’ Wallace continued.

Braith Anasta commented:

‘He’s been at a club thats struggling, so its easy to kind of overlook how well he is playing and when you play alongside Mitch Moses, he can be overshadowed a bit.

‘It’s easy to think he had underachieved, when he hasn’t. The stats don’t lie’.

Stats from Aron Wallace (Fox Sports).

FIVE-EIGTH TRY INVOLVEMENT RANK:

1. Braydon Trindell
2. Luke Keary
3. Luke Brooks
4. Dylan Brown
5. Tom Deardon

FIVE-EIGTH TRY ASSISTS RANK:

1. Cody Walker
2. Dylan Brown
3. Kodi Nikorima
4. Jayden Campbell
5. Luke Brooks

FIVE-EIGTH LINE BREAK INVOLVEMENT RANK:

1. Tom Dearden
2. Cody Walker
3. Dylan Brown
4. Luke Keary
5. Luke Brooks

FIVE-EIGTH LINE BREAK ASSISTS RANK:

1. Kodi Nikorima
2. Cody Walker
3. Jack Cogger
4. Dylan Brown
5. Jayden Campbell

Wallace had Dylan Brown ranked 1st, when covering all metrics.

What the stats don’t show were Dylans struggles from his unfamiliar halfback position last season. There is no doubt running the side as a general wasn’t within his abilities at this stage.

And both Braith Anasta & Cooper Cronk spoke of Dylan finding that ‘C’ word at his top level also - consistency.

What makes Dylan Browns 2024 impressive though, outside the fact he was surrounded by a revolving door of reserve grade players, while missing his halfback & playing an unfamiliar position, was the fact the Eels ran:

These are brutal team statistics that must have had Jason Ryles questioning his decision.

CULTURE

All of the above, of course, is meaningless if a player doesn’t fit, or worse, impacts the culture of a team.

Everything we have heard from the inner sanctum, would suggest this is not an issue for Dylan Brown.

‘I love the kid and what he does outside of footy is what nobody sees — he has a massive effect on the Parramatta area and I really hope he stays’ - Mitch Moses.

If Ryles feels Dylan isn't the right fit for what he is building, then now is the time for change, and it feels as if we can finally trust the coach & club with that decision

CONCLUSION

We are all Eels fans, we bleed blue & gold, and, the future is looking bright.

Players will always come & go, we’ve seen more than our fair share of talent walk from our club.

Would we survive without Brown? Of course.

But, its unmistakeable that the Eels are a far superior side with Dylan Brown, and we’d be selling ourselves short to assume he's easily replaceable. Especially now, as the club have rectified shortcomings of the previous few years that will ultimately impact Brown more than most.

We have a genuine back up halfback.

We have two genuine rep standard outside backs. 

We have a more mobile & agile forward pack.

We have our halfback healthy again.

We have a new coach, and hopefully, we have a new defensive mindset & ability with the changes above.

At the end of the day, a Premiership is what we as fans are ultimately seeking. 

Love him or hate him, Dylan Brown makes the chances of competing for one in the near future a far more likely prospect.

Sign, Dylan.