http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...l/news-story/a7f6dd14236988094fb3d75c96420fbc
How Phillip Hughes handed Nathan Brown the new ball
- The Australian
- 12:00AM August 11, 2017
- Ray Gatt
Locked away safely in a room at Nathan Brown’s home is a non-descript bag of cricket gear: gloves, pads and an assortment of Kookaburra and County bats.
They’re all from a time not all that long ago when the rampaging Parramatta Eels lock thought cricket would lead him to a successful professional sporting career.
While Brown has no regrets about his decision to swap cricket whites for the rough and tumble of the NRL, the gear still holds huge significance for him because at one time it all belonged to one of his sporting heroes — the late Phillip Hughes.
Brown never followed a team in the NRL, instead opting for Hughes and former Australia cricket captain Michael Clarke as his idols. As a teenager going through the ranks of Sydney grade cricket at Wests, he could barely believe his luck when seeing them play at close hand.
He was a very promising batsman, under maestro Neil D’Costa, who was head coach at Wests at the time. Brown made it to second grade, often training alongside first-team players such as Hughes.
“I learned a lot from them, especially Hughesy,” Brown recalled. “He had a big impact on me as a mentor. Sometimes I’d be batting in the net next to his net and I’d just stop and watch him. He was perfect in everything he did. I was in awe.
“He always had time to chat and ended up giving me a whole kit full of his hand-down bats, gloves and pads.”
That, however, is as close to cricket as he gets these days. The talented left-hand batsman gave up rugby league for a season to chase his cricket dream but was eventually drawn back to his first love — league.
“Could I have made it (in cricket)? Nah … well, I guess you never know. But that is long gone now and I don’t look back, I look forward,” he said.
Still, the lessons learnt from those cricket days at Wests have helped him build a career in the NRL, although Hughes was not the only person who had an impact in moulding the 24-year-old into the player and, more importantly, the person he is today.
The man Brown mentions most is Joe Wehbe, who has built a reputation as the “football whisperer”.
Wehbe, who has also worked with Aaron Woods, Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses, shuns the limelight but Brown was more than happy to credit him with turning around his career and make this his breakout NRL year. “He gets inside my head,” the Eels star said. “On and off the field he has helped me so much. I have a clear head when I get on the field and I now try and have fun and enjoy my footy. I have been with him for three years and is he has been so crucial for me.
“I’ve been very lucky to have had Phil Hughes, Joe and (Parramatta coach) Brad Arthur help me so much to develop as a player and a person.
“All of that has taught me that I can have an impact on younger players as well and that I can be a role model.”
It has certainly shown this season, with Brown among a host of standouts as the Eels have surged into premiership contention off the back of a six-game winning streak that has put them within sight of a top-four spot.
Brown’s impact has been stunning, as the statistics show. He is 20th overall in metres gained (2539), sixth in offloads (36) and 22nd in tackles made (584).
It is clear why he is now regarded as the leader of the Parramatta pack. He can do it at both ends, in attack and defence.
“Brad showed a lot of faith in me. He has been wonderful. He gave me that role (leader of the pack). He thinks I’m a leader. I think the way I play and go about my footy, I am happy to take that role,” Brown said.
Mind you, all this would not have been possible if he had succumbed to his preference of “better the devil you know than the devil you don’t”.
Having spent two seasons with South Sydney (2015 and 2016) and with the Rabbitohs having given him his big break, he was inclined to stay “in my comfort zone” when the opportunity first came up to join the Eels.
“I am not a person who likes change ... but I guess everything happens for a reason and joining the Eels is the best decision I have ever made.
I’m signed up until the end of next season but I want to stay at the Eels forever.”
