The words of their father ringing in their ears, Brown brothers Jeremy and Dan have earned a reputation as tackling machines.
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Since their first game together against Moree in the first round, where Red Devils coach Jason Waerea remarked they “tackled everything with two legs”, it would be a rare game that both or either don’t figure among the Red Devils best.
Like a packaged deal, they are often hard to split.
That is as true off the field.
Both work on the family farm at Spring Ridge, and travel into training, and to and from games together.
“Where one is the other one is not too far away, whether on the footy field or at home,” Jeremy said.
They have formed a formidable combination flanking the scrum, switching between openside and blindside as needed.
“If one of us needs a bit of a break we swap it around,” he said.
Bar a couple of games in second grade last season, they hadn’t really played a lot of competitive footy together before this season.
With two years between them it meant they were “that bit of a step out going up through the age groups”.
“It’s been great. You grow up playing sport together in the backyard and at school, to play it at grade level is a lot of fun,” Jeremy said.
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Almost identical in the way they play, he acknowledged that their defence is one of their strongest attributes.
“I remember growing up dad saying ‘the bigger they are the harder they fall’.
“It’s a philosophy we taken into games,” he said.
“You’ve just got to commit to the tackle. You go in half-hearted you’re going to get hurt.”
He described this season as one that “got away” for the Red Devils.
“We had pretty high expectations at the start of the year,” he said.
The loss to Scone in the final game of the first round was when it all started to go pear-shaped, successive losses to Narrabri, Inverell and Pirates leaving the Red Devils needing a few upsets to make the finals.
The most frustrating part, Brown said, is that they’ve been in all three games.
Against Pirates they dominated in the scrum and had more than enough field position, but just couldn’t finish.
The Red Devils tackle Quirindi on Saturday, which for the brothers is always an interesting clash.
“Growing up at Spring Ridge there’s quite a few rugby boys around the place that play for Quirindi,” Jeremy said.
The Lions only have the two wins but he expects them to come out firing, and look to keep it tight.