Dylan Edwards is a silent assassin - provided you make your tackles and he hasn’t had a beer or two

There are two things which can get the NRL’s quiet guy Dylan Edwards yapping – beers and missed tackles. Fatima Kdouh lifts the lid on what makes the NSW star tick - and why you don’t want to tick him off.

Nathan Cleary reckons you don’t know Dylan Edwards until you’ve shared a few beers with the NSW fullback.

Or until you miss a few tackles, as Panthers teammate Liam Martin learned the hard way.

A four-time premiership winner and Clive Churchill medallist, Edwards is a reluctant NRL star in every sense of the word.

A mystery man to many except those within his inner sanctum who know three things to be true – his loyalty is unwavering, he can throw hands and he simply “hates talking about himself”.

For years rugby league journalists have speculated whether Edwards’ introverted nature was by deliberate design.

A way to avoid the attention, shield himself from the limelight and all that comes with it, like probing questions from pesky reporters.

Dylan Edwards is NSW’s smiling assassin. Picture: Getty Images

But swapping a microphone or camera in his face for a beer in his hand does the trick.

“He doesn’t like talking about himself too much unless he’s had a few beers,” Cleary laughs.

“He’s very cautious of who he’s around and what he says.

But it’s good to see him just loosen up a bit sometimes.”

Martin insists Edwards’ low-key demeanour is not an elaborate ruse.

“He is actually pretty quiet away from the field as well, he’s just a quiet guy,” Martin said.

“But we call it the ‘twist’, all of a sudden he gets a few beers in and gets chirpy, and confident.

“I think he was a golden gloves boxer back in the day and he loves to let you know.

“He’s pretty funny in that aspect.”

As a young kid in Dorrigo, a small town in the Northern Tablelands with a population of just over 1,100 people, Edwards would swap his footy boots for boxing gloves.

Edwards quickly showed plenty of aptitude in the ring.

Dylan Edwards and Nathan Cleary spar during a Panthers pre-season camp. Picture: Penrith Panthers

Dorrigo locals, like Brian Darby, who owned the boxing gym Edwards trained at, was convinced the then athletically gifted teen could have made it as a pugilist.

Edwards, naturally, plays down his ability.

“I boxed when I was younger but not for years and years now, I did it for fun and fitness, that was it,” Edwards said.

These days, Edwards still has fun in the ring and in sparring sessions but he is the only one enjoying himself.

Even Panthers prop Lindsay Smith, who has Edwards beat on the scale by at least 12 kilograms, does his best to avoid the fullback when the gloves come on.

Dylan Edwards gets in the face of Maroons rival Patrick Carrigan. Picture: NRL Images/Grant Trouville

“Ah yeah, I have sparred with him before … nah, it’s not fun. Not fun at all,” Smith said.

“When there are boxing sessions at training, he is definitely the last person you want to come up against.

Cleary tries to steer clear too, but had the misfortune of going toe to toe with Edwards in a sparring session during a pre-season camp earlier this year.

“Has he mentioned he was a golden gloves boxer back in the day?,” Cleary laughs.

“Yeah, I don’t really like being paired up with him in anything to be honest.

“Especially sparring, because he’s just 100 miles an hour all the time, particularly boxing.”

While Edwards fists do all the talking off the field in training, his sprays on the field have left as many mental scars.

“He’s good for a spray. Yeah, really good,” Martin said.

“There was a Tigers game a few years back, I had a couple of bad missed tackles.

“I had copped it from a few people during the game but then finally Dyl came up to me and absolutely sprayed me.

“Oh, I can’t really repeat it … let’s just say there were a lot of expletives.

“He just came at me and was like ‘f*** me, Marto just make your f*****g tackles’.

“I just yelled back, “I f*****g know”.

“If you ask anyone who has played with him, they’d have a spray from him.

“He’s also actually surprisingly good for a bit of chirp (at opposition players too).”

While Edwards is the last person the likes of Cleary, Smith and Martin want to see opposite them in a training drill, the 29-year old is the first teammate they want to line-up alongside on a football field.

“He is just never going to back down, never, and that sums him up,” Cleary said

“He always turns up for his mates and he does that week in, week out on the footy field.”

Penrith's Dylan Edwards (right) was a budding boxer before he became an NRL star. Photo: Penrith Panthers

He’s the first one Martin, who lived with Edwards when he first moved to Penrith from Temora over 10 years ago, would call if he ever needed a mate.

“He’s super loyal, he is loyal to the bone. If you’re ever in trouble, he’d be the first person you would call pretty much and he would do anything for you,” Martin said.

“He’s a really great bloke, and I’m lucky to call him a mate.”

For Cleary, nothing encapsulated Edwards’ character more than his heroics in Penrith’s grand final victory over South Sydney in 2021.

The headlines vaunted Cleary’s feats having produced a Clive Churchill medal-winning performance with one arm, after going to the title decider carrying a shoulder dislocation that had torn 80 per cent of the tendon from the bone.

But Edwards had taken to Suncorp Stadium on one foot.

“The first thing that comes to mind with Dyl is always the 2021 grand final,” Cleary said.

“He played with a broken foot, which is ridiculous in itself.

“He was in the moon boot and on crutches the day of the game.

“I remember just looking at him like, ‘how the hell is this guy gonna play?’

“And then we got to the stadium. He took the moon boot off and he was walking around the sheds and he’s just limping.

“Again, I was like, I don’t know how this guy’s going to play.

“The way he played that game, how tough he was, it was just incredible.

“I think that really speaks to his resilience and his ability to play through pain, it’s unmatched.”

(L-R) Dylan Edwards and Liam Martin lived together when the duo first moved to Sydney. Photo: Penrith Panthers

Edwards, and the Panthers, went on to build a premiership dynasty that very few think will be replicated anytime soon.

But a dynasty that does not get built if not for a player like Edwards.

“He’s so important to every team he’s in,” Cleary said.

“Not only with the way he plays, but the way he’s able to organise defence lines and all that.

“He just does so much that actually still goes unnoticed, and I still think he’s underrated as a player, to be honest.

“But yeah, in terms of success, particularly Penrith, we wouldn’t have had any of that without Dyl.”

It’s the kind of high praise that would undoubtedly make Edwards recoil.

But all very worthy.

On Wednesday night, the reluctant star is just 80-minutes away from adding back-to-back State Origin series wins to his impressive list of achievements that already included four premiership rings, a Clive Churchill Medal and six Australian Test caps.

“It’s not a bad resume, is it?,” Cleary said.