Nathan Cleary shakes his head when you ask him if Dylan Edwards is the most underrated fullback in the game.
“He’s not just the most underrated fullback, he’s the most underrated player,” Cleary says.
It is a fair point when you consider that Edwards is on a little more than $500,000 a year, which is about half what superstar fullbacks Tom Trbojevic, James Tedesco and Kalyn Ponga rake in annually.
It is a fair point, too, when you consider that Edwards could probably command at least $750,000 if he went to the open market.
And it is an especially fair point when you consider that the Clive Churchill (man of the match in the Panthers’ grand final win) and Merv Cartwright medallist (as Penrith’s player of the year) will probably never play an Origin game for NSW or an international for Australia.
“You only have to ask the players who play against him just how good he is,” Cleary says.
“The work he gets through, how strong he is; he’s constantly turning up when everyone else is tired. The stuff he does with the defensive line goes unnoticed by fans.
Dylan Edwards and the Panthers celebrate grand final glory in October.Credit:Getty
“Dyl is a massive part of this team. I’m glad people are finally starting to realise that and giving him the credit he deserves.”
Edwards has skipped the World Club Challenge on Saturday night to overcome the last of some minor niggles, but there is no concern about him being right for round one against Brisbane on Friday week.
If Edwards is not the most underrated player in rugby league, then who is?
Panthers great Greg Alexander recalls asking a question about Edwards’ worth to the premiers on the eve of last year’s grand final against Parramatta.
“I remember saying how it was only a few years ago people were wondering if Penrith could win a premiership with Dylan Edwards at fullback,” Alexander says. “Now you have to ask if Penrith can win another one without Dylan. That’s how important he has become to this team.”
Alexander said the reason Edwards may not be so widely appreciated by rival fans is because he has never pulled on a representative jumper.
Few players are fitter than the Panthers fullback.Credit:Penrith Panthers
Edwards is not the first Penrith favourite or No.1 to miss out on playing Origin for the Blues. Preston Campbell won the Dally M Medal in 2001 (beating no less than Andrew Johns in the process) but never wore the sky blue jumper.
“Players who are great for their club but who don’t play rep footy can often fall into that category,” Alexander says. “But Dylan isn’t underrated any more. You can’t fly under the radar when you’ve won a Clive Churchill Medal.
“It’s so easy to forget he should never have played in the 2021 grand final. He was still in moon boot on grand final day because of stress fractures in the foot.”
It’s difficult to imagine Edwards is still operating under the radar given his stellar numbers in 2022.
For the record, Edwards ran the ball 546 times last season, 73 more than the next highest, Tedesco, the Sydney Roosters gun widely regarded as the game’s premier fullback. Edwards also racked up 5578 running metres, which was a whopping 486m more than Tedesco.
Edwards has run for 19,776m so far in his career and could crack the 20,000m mark against the Broncos – and he’s still only 27.
Dylan Edwards clocked up more running metres than any player in the game in 2022.Credit:Getty
Panthers officials know they are getting real bang for buck with Edwards. They are expected to kick off contract talks in the next fortnight to keep him at the foot of the mountains beyond 2024.
Edwards has never been one to talk himself up. He grew up in Dorrigo on the mid-North Coast and played his junior footy with the Dorrigo-Bellingen Magpies in Group 2, where club officials back in the day used to plant a crop of vegies at the start of the season to help pay the bill for players.
Edwards is the ultimate quiet country boy who lives for his family. He is more a Chris Stapleton kind of guy than a fan of any tunes often heard blaring out of the portable speakers wheeled around by Jarome Luai and Stephen Crichton.
It is well known that he is the fittest player at theclub, which is saying something given the numbers Cleary regularly churns out at training.
If the Panthers become the first club to win three premierships in a row since Parramatta in the early 1980s, they will need Edwards fit, firing and clocking up plenty of metres.
Just a couple of years ago some good judges were not convinced Edwards was the answer, particularly after he produced a howler against Melbourne in Bathurst one night in 2019. Charlie Staines was even signed as an insurance policy.
Staines has since left the club to join Wests Tigers. Ditto Crichton, who will pursue his own No.1 dream at the Bulldogs next year. But Edwards is still there, having seen off all the challengers. And he’s still underrated.
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