There hasn’t been a bigger rugby league story this summer than Dylan Brown.
Will he remain an Eel? Will any club jump at his purported 10-year, $13 million price tag? Is he even among the very best players in the game?
According to some of the best minds in rugby league, the answer is to the last question is no. The Sydney Morning Herald and Wide World of Sports tasked a panel of experts including Andrew Johns, Brad Fittler, Darren Lockyer and Roy Masters to compile a list of the top 50 players in the NRL.
Those at the pointy end of the list – Nathan Cleary, Harry Grant, Jahrome Hughes and Kalyn Ponga round out this year’s top five – can command the sort of money that Brown is seeking. Given their ability to influence the outcome of matches, deservedly so.
Brown, meanwhile, is seeking a pay rise at a time when he didn’t make the top 50 altogether. Above him were the likes of fellow pivots Tom Dearden (Cowboys, 23rd) and Isaiya Katoa (Dolphins, 34th), as well as former Eels teammate Clint Gutherson (Dragons, 50th).
Brown didn’t get a single vote from any of the panel’s 12 judges. Nor did he make last year’s list. Yet the 24-year-old is already one of the top earners in the game and is seeking an ever bigger contract.
Eels star Dylan Brown.Credit: Getty
This year, Brown is on $975,000. If he remains in the blue and gold, he will receive $1.1 million per season thereafter until 2031. And now the Newcastle Knights are pondering whether to table an offer that will blow the Eels out of the water.
Last year, with Mitchell Moses out for the season, Brown was given the chance to step up. On eight occasions, he wore Moses’ No.7 jersey. That’s the same number as Daejarn Asi, who earned a fraction of his salary. Neither was able to make it his own. It’s why Brown’s name is the biggest omission from the list.
While some selections can be considered contentious, there’s likely to be little argument about the man in the No.1 spot. For the second successive season, Nathan Cleary has taken out the top ranking. The Panthers superstar polled 61 more votes than his nearest rival, the second-placed Harry Grant. Jahrome Hughes, on the back of his Dally M season, is the big improver, rocketing from 28th last year to third spot. Jarome Luai’s stocks are also on the rise, the Tigers recruit just missing out on a top-10 spot (11th), up from 32, after another outstanding season with the premiers.
Reece Walsh’s rating dipped after Brisbane’s disappointing season, dropping from fourth last year to 15th. New teammate Ben Hunt has also slipped from 30 to 47, but new Broncos coach Michael Maguire feels the former Dragons skipper will be back to his best at Red Hill.
“He’s going to be very special for the club,” Maguire said of Hunt. “He’s seen everything in the game, all the challenges of grand finals, everything. He’s played in big games, internationals, Origins, he’s done it all. But at the end of the day, he’s chasing and he’s hungry to be a part of winning the competition, that’s the ultimate.”
As is usually the case, spine players take out most of the top spots. However, there were some exceptions, with Dylan Edwards, Isaah Yeo, Mitchell Moses, Tom Trbojevic, Payne Haas and Stephen Crichton rounding out the top 10.
What’s clear is that the biggest earners tend to take out the top positions. Regardless of whether he stays or goes, Brown will be up there with the highest-paid players in the game. The big question is, regardless of whether he stays or goes, will he make the cut when the list is compiled again in 12 months’ time?
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