25-04-2025
Andrew Johns says Dylan Brown ‘not a dominant halfback', weighs in on future position at Newcastle Knights
Newcastle have written the richest cheque in NRL history, but no one — not even club legend Andrew Johns — can tell you where Dylan Brown fits in the spine.
The 10-year, multimillion-dollar bet will see the Parramatta five-eighth shift north in 2026, but whether he arrives as a No. 6, a No. 7, or somewhere completely different has quickly turned into a talking point.
Brown is expected to take on halfback duties alongside Fletcher Sharpe, but his history in the role has been patchy at best.
'He is not a Nathan Cleary or a Mitchell Moses, who are dominant halfbacks that go pretty much everywhere and do all the kicking,' Johns said on WWOS' Immortal Behaviour.
'He's not that dominant voice. He's not a dominant halfback, it's not Dylan's nature.'
That nature has been on full display this season — a campaign where the Eels barely functioned until Moses returned.
Brown has admitted his past struggles but insists he's ready to evolve. It appears Newcastle are betting on that evolution arriving in real time.
But Johns remains unconvinced.
'He is a left-side centric player, he doesn't get to the right too often. They have to work out how they will play him.'
One alternative floated: shift Sharpe to halfback instead. The 20-year-old is raw but electric, though there's a catch.
'Which he is an instinctive player and great support player,' Johns said. 'But I haven't seen Fletcher kick that much, especially under pressure and fatigue.
'They need to be clear from day one at training. They need to be clear (with saying) 'here's our seven, our six, our nine and our fullback'. Lock those four players in and they don't change.'
Kalyn Ponga looms large in that picture. His best outing this year saw him playing first receiver — a hint, perhaps, that the solution may lie outside traditional numbering.
'Adam Elliott doesn't really play that link role … we saw in their best victory of the year Kalyn played first receiver,' Johns said.
'Whether they split Dylan Brown down the left and Fletcher Sharpe on the right and let KP link with them, I don't know. I've heard the expression 'hybrid halfback' [for Brown], I don't know what that means, but it's going to take a lot of time in the off-season to work everything out.'
Having progressed through the Eels' Pathway Program, Brown made his NRL debut in 2019 and has since played 124 games for the club.
In that time the 24-year-old has built himself into one of the best halves in the NRL at Parramatta and was seen as the club's long-term term-leader.
Such was the faith Parramatta had in Brown his current deal with the Eels ran until 2031 but was littered with controversial get-out clauses.
Brown was set to earn $1.1 million a season in 2026 at the Eels, but whether it be the direction the Eels are headed or the extra $200,000 a season on offer at the Knights, the Kiwi international has turned his back on Parramatta in favour of a move to Newcastle.
