Star Eels five-eighth Dylan Brown has been stood down by the NRL after he allegedly touched a woman without consent at a Sydney venue on Saturday night.
The 22-year-old was charged with five counts of sexually touching a 20-year-old woman at the Golden Sheaf in Double Bay
Brown was stood down under the NRL’s no-fault stand-down policy and will not be eligible for selection until he receives clearance from the governing body.
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Players charged with an offence carrying a maximum jail sentence of 11 years or more are automatically stood down until their court cases are complete, and although Brown’s charges didn’t meet that threshold, the NRL made a discretionary decision to stand him down.
When clubs released their team lists at 4pm on Tuesday, Parramatta named Brown at five-eighth for next Monday’s clash with Canterbury.
Now that Brown is unavailable to play, the Eels are likely to replace him with Daejarn Asi, who’s played 18 NRL games for the Cowboys and Warriors and was named on Parramatta’s extended bench for the Canterbury clash.
Asi, 22, departed the Warriors for the Eels after the 2022 season, having signed a two-year deal.
Alternative options to blooding Asi at five-eighth are giving the No.6 jumper to Clint Gutherson or Bryce Cartwright.
If Eels halfback Mitchell Moses is picked to replace the injured Nathan Cleary for New South Wales, Parramatta will have neither of its go-to halves.
Brown is a Kiwi international and was arguably the Eels’ best player over the first 14 rounds of the season.
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The 2022 grand finalists are now tasked with climbing out of their rut, which has them placed 12th on the ladder, without a key member of their attack.
“Our main focus is footy,” Parramatta captain Clint Gutherson told 9News before the NRL stood down Brown.
“We’ve got a big game coming up (against the Bulldogs), we’ve got a big three or four-week period here that we’ve really got to nail and that’s all we’re focused on as a team (and) as a club.”
Brown has played 96 NRL matches for the Eels since making his debut in 2019.
The Eels will meet the Bulldogs, Sea Eagles, Dolphins and Warriors over the next month.
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