NRL Live: Eels v Wests Tigers, Bulldogs v Titans, SuperCoach scores, results and analysis

Champion halfback Cooper Cronk sees uncanny parallels in the career paths of Jarome Luai and Dylan Brown, warning the two stars of the harsh realities set to confront them at their new clubs.

Champion halfback Cooper Cronk says Dylan Brown will get a first-hand look at what he’s facing 12 months down the track against Jarome Luai’s Wests Tigers on Sunday.

The similarities between the pair are uncanny — two career five-eighths playing alongside dominant halfbacks, both signed big money deals to go elsewhere with a season left to play at their debut club.

While Luai is one game into his switch to halfback, there’s a road ahead at the Eels for Newcastle-bound Brown.

But the challenges are the same.

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“The one challenge Jarome Luai and Dylan Brown will have is that Jarome might have touched the ball 40 times with Nathan Cleary in the side. Now, at the Tigers, he’s probably going to touch the ball 60-odd times,” Fox League’s Cronk said.

“There’s 20 more decisions that Jarome will have to make, and some of those are probably more kicks, and some of those are game management decisions.

“The reason why they get given those contracts is because they’re very good players, and they need to have the same mindset of being able to run and create.

“But when you play halfback, you’ve got to also make decisions for the team, kick the ball a few more times, when to hit the accelerator, when to play a high percentage play, but still have the ability to hit the scoreboard and set up tries and score them.

“It’s not a whole new skill set these guys have to learn. It’s just about understanding a little bit more of the game and the situation and the context.”

Dylan Brown. Picture: NRL Photos

Jarome Luai. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

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That transition is undoubtedly easier with a strong system already in place.

At Penrith Luai showed he can handle a team on his own, but a first up loss to Newcastle last week wasn’t the ideal start as chief playmaker at the Tigers.

“There has been a few occasions where Jarome played halfback when Nathan Cleary was out, and he did a lot of things right,” Cronk said.

“But that was because Penrith did a lot of things that right, which supported his decision making.

“Penrith are the best defensive team, have the best completion rate, the best run metres.

“They’ve got good attacking possession.

“The Tigers don’t have that. So he’s going to make a lot more decisions on the back foot and therefore a bit under pressure.

“And Dylan Brown, similar thing. You are worth what someone’s willing to pay, but he’s going to have to make 20 to 30 more decisions in a Newcastle jersey that he’s not used to making.

“He’s probably going to have to fast-track that learning really quickly to hit the ground running up there next year.”

Brown now has the chance without Mitch Moses for the next five weeks to do what he failed to do last season.

“It’s about working hard, it’s about putting in more hours than the opposition does,” Cronk said.

“If Dylan Brown works around the clock on his game, has some good fundamentals that Newcastle have in terms of all those things like defence and completion rate and all that stuff. Can he do it? Of course he can do it.

“But some of the things that he did at Parramatta last year, it’s going to be a big challenge for him.

“I thought when Mitchell Moses went out of the side last year, I would have expected and liked to see Dylan Brown really stand up and take a little bit of that halfback mentality into his five-eighth mentality and help Parramatta through that section.

“But if he’s willing to work hard, he can teach himself anything.”

Originally published as NRL Live: Eels v Wests Tigers, Bulldogs v Titans, SuperCoach scores, results and analysis