‘I try not to think about it’: Eels star reveals the only thing that will make him watch replay of grand final defeat

Penrith fans have spent the summer watching replays of last year’s grand final, but it’s a different story at the Eels heading into the new season.

Dylan Brown isn’t dwelling on the past as he and the Eels look to bounce back from a heartbreaking end to 2022. Picture; Richard Dobson

Eels superstar Dylan Brown has seen snippets of last year’s devastating loss to Penrith in the grand final, but the recently re-signed five-eighth hasn’t watched the game in full and may never do so with his focus entirely on the upcoming season.

Brown was one of Parramatta’s best last year but not even he could sway the result as the Panthers used their big-game experience to explode out of the blocks to establish an unassailable lead.

The Eels were stunned early by the Penrith onslaught. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

The 22-year-old didn’t have much time to reflect on the defeat as he travelled to the UK for the World Cup and then spent a few weeks holidaying in Europe before he returned home to sort out his contract.

Video analysis is one of the most important facets of post-game review, but Brown and many of his teammates aren’t in any rush to press play on the 2022 grand final tape.

“I’ve watched the highlights, but I haven’t watched the whole game,” he said ahead of Parramatta’s trial against Penrith on Saturday that he won’t play in.

“I can’t remember who I was talking to on that night but they said they haven’t watched their grand final either and they won’t do it until they make another one. I thought the same.

“I try not to think about it. We’re in a new year so you can’t really dwell on stuff like that. I like to move on pretty quickly.”

It was party time for the Panthers for the second year in a row. Picture: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

New recruit Josh Hodgson was in the air on his way to England as the Eels’ grand plans came crashing down, but he too wouldn’t have watched the match because he doesn’t like seeing other teams lift the trophy.

The Englishman was on the wrong end of an epic grand final in 2019 when the Roosters outlasted the Raiders, and he says the vibe out west “is the same feeling” to what he and his teammates experienced in the nation’s capital leading into the 2020 season.

“Anyone who has played in one and lost one, you know the feeling and it never really leaves you. It never left me and it was a few years ago now,” said Hodgson, who doesn’t feel like he has anything to prove at his new club.

“You can sense it here, definitely. They often speak about ‘we could have done this here, or we could have done that there’. You always have that in the back of your mind. It does give you that extra ‘I’ve got to go and get it’ type of attitude.

Josh Hodgson was shattered after the 2019 loss. Picture: Phil Hillyard

“That’s really exciting for me, coming into a team where they’re really hungry. It’s the hungriest you can be as a team to get so close and don’t quite get there. You’re champing at the bit more than you ever have been.

“That doesn’t mean an awful lot at the end of the day too, there have been teams who have made grand finals and not done a real lot the next year.

“Sometimes all that does is put a target on your back because teams know to aim up against you. Sometimes it can be a bit of a handicap too knowing that you’ve got to be on right from the very start because teams are aiming up for you.

“Last year means nothing going into this year.”