ASSRL Nationals Live Stream: Cowboys kid Mutua Brown heralded as a thinking player

He’s the lightning fast fullback who will have heads turning at the ASSRL Nationals. But future Cowboy Mutua Brown, is not just quick on his feet. Find out why the NRL club loves the young gun.

He is the lightning fullback set to lead Queensland at the ASSRL Nationals, but the only thing faster than Mutua Brown’s feet, is his mind.

The teenage speedster, who was born and bred in Far North Queensland, is well regarded in rugby league circles as one of the game’s young thinkers.

Contracted to the Cowboys for the past two years, The Cathedral College student will move to Townsville next year to join the club’s Young Guns program.

But before then, he will be a key piece to the ASSRL puzzle for Queensland as the state aims to go back-to-back in Redcliffe.

Every match of the ASSRL Under-18s Nationals will be exclusively live streamed on KommunityTV from July 1, including the girls’ competition in its inaugural year.

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Queensland School Rugby League Championship Finals at Jack Manski Oval, Townsville. Grand final. Capricornia's Mutua Brown and South Coast's Isaiah Fagalilo. Picture: Evan Morgan

Cowboys head of development and pathways Glenn Hall will be on the sidelines for the nationals with the Queensland side featuring five players contracted the club’s pathways program.

Brown is joined by fellow Cowboys youngsters Xavier Kerrisk, Jaxon Purdue, Kaiden Lahrs and Mason Kira.

The electric fullback has walked a similar path to Queensland Origin flyer Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, growing up in Far North Queensland before taking up an opportunity to join the GPS rugby ranks at Ipswich Grammar.

CQ Capras' under-18 squad member Mutua Brown.

But a chance to return to rugby league at The Cathedral College in Rockhampton, put him on the radar of the Cowboys who have been impressed by his swift development over the past two years.

“He is a naturally gifted kid and he is getting good coaching down there at TCC,” Hall said.

“He is developing really nicely, he is a good footballer. He has a high skillset with the ball, he is tough defensively and he is learning how to organise the line defensively and how to talk to his players.

“He has a lot of skills but one of the best things about him is he has a lovely personality, he is a gentleman and a student of the game. He wants to learn the game, he asks a lot of questions and then he takes what he learns and implements it.

“He watches a lot of football and talks to (Cowboys pathways coach) Steve Shephard about what he is seeing. He picks things up that he watches and he wants to add it to his game. He is a thinker.”

Queensland School Rugby League Championship Finals at Jack Manski Oval, Townsville. Grand final. Capricornia's Mutua Brown. Picture: Evan Morgan

TCC head of rugby league Mick Busby, who coached the Capricornia schoolboys side to the state grand final last month, has a high opinion of the young fullback.

Busby believes Brown is in line to become the school’s first Australian schoolboys’ representative.

“He would have been in the top-five players at the state carnival, he is playing for Queensland and he is a real chance of making that Australian schoolboys side. I want him to have every opportunity to do that,” Busby said.

“He is the complete package.

“He has that sheer pace but also the strength and determination that makes a good fullback. He is very, very good.”

Brown will start at fullback for Queensland when they open the ASSRL Nationals against NSW Combined Catholic Colleges on Saturday.