- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
It’s a strange life being Dylan Edwards. The guy is arguably the form fullback of the NRL and close to the most important cog in the Panthers domination machine, given his role in starting their sets, yet his name isn’t even close to conversations about rep footy.
Australia will name a squad for the World Cup with James Tedesco as captain, Latrell Mitchell as a centre and, potentially, Clint Gutherson as a depth option. Were they fit, they would have certainly found space for Tom Trbojevic, Ryan Papenhuyzen and Kalyn Ponga too.
You could easily make an argument that Edwards, going into his third consecutive Grand Final and favourite for Dally M Fullback of the Year, is the seventh choice for the Kangaroos and sixth for New South Wales.
He might be the only man alive begging for City-Country to come back, so that the former Bellingen-Dorrigo Magpie has a chance at a rep jumper.
“I haven’t thought about it,” he said in the sheds after his side’s 32-12 preliminary final win over South Sydney. “Teddy is the No.1 and I don’t know what the squad looks like. I’ll keep doing my job.
“If it comes it comes, and if it comes, it comes off the back of team success. You can’t do it by yourself. I’m not looking forward to anything like that because I have a job to do next week.”
The modesty belies his position as arguably the form fullback of the comp. The form is now near-permanent, with Edwards picking up the Panthers’ player of the year and consistently churning out metres from the back.
Metres are not everything for a fullback – one suspects Latrell Mitchell doesn’t measure himself as such – but for the way that Edwards plays, they are the best form guide.
Saturday night’s clash was an example. Mitchell managed just 52m from seven carries while Edwards was on 230m off 24. It’s stark.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
But the Panther knows his job is simply to fill a role in a wider system, rather than to break the game open.
“Latrell is a quality player, but we were able to dominate field position and possession in the second half and come away with it,” he said of their battle.
“(Starting sets) is my job. The big boys up the front do all the work in defence and I’ve just got to get behind the ball and get us out of yardage the best I can. Everyone knows their role in the team, that’s my role and I’m expected to do it.
“It’s pretty cliched, but I focus on my role in my team and I don’t really look outside. Obviously I watch the other guys’ games and if they do something I like I might try to fit it in my game somewhere, but I have to focus on what works for me within our team.”
It was a job that looked awfully tough at 12-0 down and time running out in the first half, but Penrith showed all their patience and resolve to score two late tries before the break.
“You’ve just got to keep the head,” he said.
“We knew if we could get one, the tide might turn a little bit. Souths played really well most of the first half and to jag one just before half time probably hurt them a little bit and we gained momentum after that. You go in nil-all and you get to build from there.”