New Zealand playmaker Dylan Brown may have controversially missed out on this year’s IRL Golden Boot award won by Harry Grant.
But having now returned to pre-season training, the 25-year-old says he’s excited to bring his Pacific Cup form to his new club, the Newcastle Knights, who finished the 2025 NRL season with the wooden spoon.
“I want to play good footy, no matter what,” Brown told the media on his first official day in Knights colours following his record move from Parramatta on a 10-year deal reported to be worth $13 million.
“To be able to play like that for the Kiwis was good for my mental space and good for Justin (Holbrook) too as a new coach coming in—it’s exciting that I can play that brand of footy, hopefully I can continue that into next year.”
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Whether Newcastle’s star playmaker signing will be featuring in the Knights number six or seven jersey in 2026 is yet to be decided, but Brown says it’s doesn’t matter either way.
“I’m happy to play wherever, I don’t think the number is too important at the moment,” he said of a Knights spine that could look very different from the end of the 2025 season, with the off-season signing of former Roosters half Sandon Smith and injury returns of Fletcher Sharpe and Kalyn Ponga.
‘That’s what a good footy team looks like’ says Dylan Brown
With so many news faces at the club and less than 80 days until the 2026 NRL season opener against the Cowboys in Las Vegas, Brown acknowledges the pressure is on to start forming combinations quickly.
“Just getting repetitions in with the boys (is the priority),” he said.
“There are lot of new faces, a new coach, new assistant coaches, new players, it’s important to build that trust and connection—that’s what a good footy team looks like.’”
For long-suffering Knights fans, hopefully that’s what their footy team looks like in 2026.