Dylan Brown wanted to test his worth on the NRL open market.
Well, the Parramatta playmaker has got his wish in what is going to be a huge moment for his new rookie coach Jason Ryles.
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With a foot injury ruling skipper Mitchell Moses out of the Eels opening round clash against Craig Bellamy’s Storm, Brown now gets the chance to show if he is worthy of the $1.3 million-a-season he is pushing for when he goes head-to-head with Cameron Munster.
Remember, the Storm just don’t lose round one games, and with the Eels going in without their best player, this could be disastrous if Brown doesn’t step up.
Yet Brown has put his name in the spotlight with the Knights willing to fork out a stunning $13m over 10 years, which would be the richest deal in the game’s history.
So there can be no excuses here.
I always think back to the final two games of the 2023 Pacific Test series games against Australia to sum up the disappointment/potential Brown has in him.
In the semi-final against Australia that year he wasn’t sighted in the 36-18 loss to the Kangaroos.
Yet the following week he was arguably best on ground in the Kiwis’ shock 30-0 victory.
I keep saying it, wouldn’t you love to see Brown perform like that week in, week out.
We all know the now 24-year-old has the potential to rival the likes of Munster, Luai and Dearden as the NRL’s best five-eighths, but consistency is the key.
HOW ROOSTERS FUMBLED HUNT
Who’d have ever thought we’d be mentioning the Sydney Roosters in the same sentence as potential recruitment blunders of the season so soon after the disastrous signing of Brandon Smith.
Yet, here we go again.
Although this time it’s about a player they didn’t sign.
You can only imagine Nick Politis’ frustration when Ben Hunt runs out wearing a Broncos jersey against his beloved Roosters.
Talk about the one who got away…
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While the Broncos are being talked up as genuine premiership contenders on the back of Hunt’s arrival to fill the void left by Ezra Mam, the consensus is that the Roosters will struggle to make the eight this year given all the experience and talent they’ve lost.
Yet at one point last November it looked as though the Roosters had Hunt locked and loaded after the veteran playmaker sat down for a chat with Politis and Trent Robinson.
In fact, the word coming out of those meetings was that Hunt even suggested as much when he phoned back to make sure the Roosters knew how keen he was.
But that was before the Broncos snuck up behind the Chooks and pulled their pants down.
How the Roosters lost the race for Hunt remains a mystery.
While Hunt has previously indicated “going back to my beginnings” at the Broncos was the deciding factor, we all know that’s just the fairytale component of his story.
The fact is in any contract negotiation money talks, and bulls*** walks.
And just as significant as the heartwarming homecoming storyline would be that someone in the Roosters’ recruitment department clearly dropped the ball here.
Maybe it was a tactical blunder by undervaluing Hunt’s status in Brisbane as a Queensland Origin legend.
It’s been reported Hunt signed with the Broncos for $550,000-a-season for two years.
But what that doesn’t include is potentially massive third-party earnings.
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Of course, every club has salary cap constraints, and the Roosters are no exception.
But there is always a way to juggle a roster if it means bringing in a player a club feel is non-negotiable.
Think Cooper Cronk coming in for Mitchell Pearce.
The fact Hunt indicated that he wanted to stay living in Sydney with his young family until at least the end of his playing career should have given the Roosters the edge.
Instead it may have given them a false sense of security.
Especially knowing there didn’t appear to be a lot of genuine interest from rival Sydney clubs outside of the Bulldogs.
If that was the case, they’d be regretting it now in the wake of the Roosters’ disastrous pre-season form.
It’s not often the Roosters recruitment team led by the most powerful chairman in the NRL gets beaten to the punch in the race to sign elite talent.
Yet in the last year Politis has had to sit back and watch his club come off second best twice.
Of course, David Fifita was the first to do the seemingly unthinkable when the star backrower backflipped to stay at the Titans early last year.
But missing out on Hunt shapes as an even bigger blow given the injuries to Sam Walker and Brandon Smith, who are not expected back until at least July.
It also comes on the back of a few other failed deals, most notably the signing of Smith who the Roosters have been trying to push back out the door ever since he arrived.
In fairness, the Roosters did snare NSW Origin hooker Reece Robson who will join the club next season from the Cowboys.
But next year is next year.
Every NRL coach will tell you what counts most is the next game.
Will missing out on Hunt end up being the recruitment blunder of the year, time will tell.
What is abundantly clear to everyone who watched either of their trial losses to the Dragons or the Knights is that the Roosters would absolutely kill to have a playmaker of Hunt’s experience and talent as they await the return of Walker.
WHY MADGE NEEDS TO KEEP WALSH HAPPY
If Reece Walsh is smiling, we know the Broncos are in a good place.
And there was not a more impressive pre-season performance than their thumping of the Bulldogs.
Where Walsh looked so relaxed yet dangerous as he started to show a few glimpses of what he and Ben Hunt had been working on over the summer.
Yes, it was just a trial.
But what it highlighted beyond any doubt was the physical power, athleticism, burning speed, skill and experience Michael Maguire has in his possession.
Now it’s up to Maguire to navigate the ups and downs of the NRL season and make sure he get’s this squad to September without burning them out first.
The knock on Kevvie Walters was that he was too soft on his players and they took advantage of it.
The flipside of that is there is a fine line between having a team battle hard and taking the fun out of football.
We’ve seen at Souths and the Tigers previously Maguire’s kryptonite has been knowing when to lighten the mood.
And Madge can play it down all he wants, but that will be the secret to the Broncos’ success this year.
If Maguire can keep a smile on the face of players like Walsh and Selwyn Cobbo, and just as importantly the old heads like Adam Reynolds and Hunt, they will be extremely hard to beat.
While Madge always wants to make out the image of him being too hard is just a myth, you only had to read a few comments from former Rabbitoh in Angus Crichton this week to know it’s very real.
Crichton told The Daily Telegraph: “Yeah, he can be a crazy bastard. But that’s why I love him, and I guess that is also why they (the opposition) hate him.”
Crichton also revealed he’d seen a change in Maguire in recent NSW camps: “He has definitely matured and grown as a coach. He was really good and really relaxed.”
It’s a great sign for the Broncos.
LUAI ‘WORTH EVERY CENT’
Jarome Luai has matured from the NRL’s most polarising players to one of the most inspiring.
When it was first mooted back in November 2023 that Luai was being courted by the Tigers for what was reported at the time to be a staggering $1.4 million-a-season five-year deal, I thought the Tigers were stark-raving mad to even consider it given Luai had no experience at that point running his own team.
I wrote at the time that the Tigers were “going the right way about sabotaging Benji Marshall’s head coaching career before it even gets started”.
But fast forward 16 months and I absolutely take my hat off to Shane Richardson for getting the deal done.
Although it’s now said to be worth $1.2 million-a-season, not the $1.4m Panthers chief executive Brian Fletcher floated at the time.
Whatever the true figure, Luai has since proven in the absence of Nathan Cleary on occasions that he is worth every cent because he can run the team.
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And he is no longer the mug lair that shows too little respect for his opposition.
But a bloke prepared to back himself to lead a struggling team into the future.
I, like most NRL fans I reckon, can’t wait to see the impact he has on these talented young Tigers when they take on the Knights on Friday night.
There was time when many fans outside of Penrith couldn’t stand the look of Luai.
Now the majority are cheering the fact he’s been brave enough to walk away from a team that has won four straight premierships to step out of the shadow of Cleary and take charge of another team trying to avoid its fourth wooden spoon.
What an unbelievably courageous decision.
CODY’S PLAYING FOR BENNETT’S LEGACY
This is going to be a defining season for Cody Walker’s future – and Wayne Bennett’s legacy.
Off contract at the end of the year, Walker has made no secret of the fact he wants to play on in 2026.
But injuries and form towards the back end of last season had many thinking the now 35-year-old Rabbitohs superstar was already running on old legs.
We later discovered Walker was carrying a rib and groin injury last year.
But after getting the green light to play in the Rabbitohs’ season opener against the Dolphins, Walker has a prime opportunity to stand up in the absence of the injured Latrell Mitchell and Cam Murray.
While Bennett is an unabashed Walker fan, rating him as one of the finest players he’s ever coached, Bennett also needs to face reality and only take Walker forward if he proves he can continue to compete with the best of the best.
With the injuries to Mitchell and especially Murray, Souths could struggle to make the eight this year with their depth already exposed.
But if Bennett wants to go out with a winning legacy himself in what is sure to be his final coaching appointment, he has some big decisions to make moving forward.
Loyalty cannot come into it.
If Walker is worthy of a new contract, he needs to start the season fast.
Otherwise, Souths need to move on just as quickly or else they will get left further behind.
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