Dylan Brown meets Knights coach, hints at hybrid role after training with Kalyn Ponga

The wages of Dylan Brown and Kalyn Ponga make up almost a quarter of the Knights’ salary cap – and the $13m recruit has revealed the duo are already building their connection for the club’s 2026 rebuild season.

Dylan Brown was tight-lipped about what role he will play – or was he?

Dylan Brown’s new life in Newcastle is already in full swing.

He has sat down with new coach Justin Holbrook, trained with superstar teammates Kalyn Ponga and Bradman Best, and settled into a new home as he and his pregnant partner, Bella, await the birth of their first child together.

Still under contract with Parramatta until October 31, the Knights’ marquee signing has wasted no time in setting down roots in Newcastle since moving to the steel city almost a month ago.

He arrives having inked a record-breaking 10-year deal worth more than $13 million in March, after seven seasons at Parramatta, whom he joined as a 15-year old from New Zealand.

The hefty price tag has come with the expectation that Brown, a career five-eighth, would take over as the Knights’ halfback general.

Speaking from Auckland, ahead of New Zealand’s opening Pacific Championships clash against Samoa, Brown insisted his Knights role was yet to be cemented.

Dylan Brown was tight-lipped about what role he will play – or was he?

“I met up with the new coach, Justin, and we had a good chat,” Brown said.

“I’d had nothing to do with him before our first meeting. But I heard of him and lots of good things about him but I’d never seen him before.

“He just seems like a really good human, a good bloke.

“It’s a big thing to be able to connect with someone and he was really easy to get along with. There were a lot of similarities, I’m a big family man and so is he. At the time, he was actually about to drive to Coffs Harbour with his family for a week-long holiday, so he’s obviously very involved in his family life, which is awesome and I love that.

“We didn’t speak too much about my role.

“But I did speak to Justin about what I prefer but I’m happy to do what’s best for the team.”

Brown was coy about just exactly what positional preference they discussed, and when pressed on whether the Pacific Championships would double as an audition in the no. 7 jumper, he said: “We have Kieran Foran here too, so he is the general.

“I reckon I’ll be playing that six role, which I’m happy to do, and I’ve always done it for the Kiwis.”

Looking to the future, Parramatta coach Jason Ryles axed Brown in Round 20, preferring to test Dean Hawkins and Joash Papalii as potential five-eighth replacements for 2026.

Brown was recalled in Round 23 for a three-game stint at centre and joked about reprising that role for Newcastle.

“You’ve seen me play a bit of centre this year, so maybe I’ll have to slot back in there next season,” Brown said.

“Nah, centre was tough actually. I have a lot of respect for those boys and their carries.”

Brown signed for Newcastle under now-former Knights coach Adam O’Brien, who cycled through more than 30 different halves combinations during his six-year tenure at the club, which ended with a wooden-spoon finish last month.

Brown got a glimpse of the magnitude of Newcastle’s rebuild after helping the Eels to a 66-10 demolition of the Knights in the final round of the regular season.

Dylan Brown alludes to a suggestion spruiked by Andrew Johns.

Brown, who has only played 10 games at halfback, will at least help new coach Holbrook solve one piece of the halves puzzle – with Fletcher Sharpe his likely partner.

But club legend and Immortal Andrew Johns, who is widely regarded as the game’s greatest halfback, remains unconvinced about a natural running five-eighth in Brown, fitting into the No.7 jumper – questioning his ability to be a dominant voice in the side.

Johns also revealed chatter about Brown playing a hybrid halfback role, which Brown alluded to when speaking with his masthead.

“Honestly, I’m not fussed where I play,” Brown said.

“I know it sounds weird but I feel like the game is changing a lot in how halves play. It’s not just the seven and just six as the single dominant one or player, you see a lot of sixes these days who are doing the playmaking, too.”

Key to Brown’s immediate success in Newcastle will be his spine connection with star fullback Kalyn Ponga, who suffered a season-ending lisfranc injury in Round 17.

The duo, whose wages make up almost a quarter of the Knights’ salary cap, have already joined forces in recent weeks in preparation for Brown’s return to pre-season training in mid-December.

New Knights recruit Dylan Brown trains with the Kiwis in Auckland. Picture: New Zealand Kiwis

“I actually had a little training session with Kalyn and a few of the boys, Bradman Best, Phoenix Crossland,” Brown said.

“We are all just trying to stay fit, obviously this time of the year you get a bit of a holiday but you want to be ready to go for pre-season, you don’t want to come in and be underdone.

“I start back in December but I reckon I’ll be in for training much earlier than that. I just want to make sure my body will be ready for another big year.”

Brown and his pregnant partner, Bella, have already moved from Dural in Sydney’s west to New Lambton, where they’re expecting their first child together, a son.

“I’m already up in Newcastle. It’s been about three weeks now, I’m all locked in,” Brown said.

“We’ve sorted all that so we are not stressing out after the Pacific Championships because my partner is due in December.

“I can’t wait for him to arrive, it’s taking ages. A couple of weeks ago, it was like ‘we’re nearly there’, but it’s taking forever, a lifetime.

“My sister had two kids when she was young, and being an uncle, not saying I was like a dad to them or anything, but you feel that connection. So to have my own, it’s always something I have wanted.

“I want a few kids actually.”

For now, Brown is focused on the more immediate task at hand, Sunday’s clash against Samoa.

“The middles, especially for this game, is going to be huge,” Brown said.

“Samoa have Payne Haas for the first time and it allows for a much better side for them, but they have elite middle all over the place

“But we have Fish (James Fisher-Harris) and Moses Leota, who have played a lot together and have had some success in the black jumper too, so we can’t wait.

“It’s going to be a physical game, it always is in the Pacific Champs, that’s why everyone loves it. And the culture that comes with it too, it’s an awesome time.”

Originally published as Dylan Brown meets Knights coach, hints at hybrid role after training with Kalyn Ponga