Nathan Brown

Mobile hooker was graded from St George juniors in 1992 after coming from Northern Rivers club McLean Magpies. Brown ousted more-experienced rake Wayne Collins from first grade and played in St George's 14-6 grand final loss to Brisbane in 1993. Brown almost left the Dragons at the height of the Super League split in 1996 but returned to the club after sitting out the early part of the season. (Interestingly, Brown was named St George clubman of the year in 1995, 1996, and 1997). An important part of St George’s drive to the grand final that year, Brown was consistently one of the club’s busiest and most creative players in the late 1990s. In 1999 he was named co-captain (with Craig Smith) of the newly-merged St George I’warra club. The blond-haired hooker felt the pain of the shattering, last-minute loss to Melbourne in the 1999 grand final (the third of his career). In February 2001, the hard-working dummy-half runner injured his neck in a tackle in a trial match against the Bulldogs and was forced to retire when x-rays revealed that he had played his entire career with a serious genetic spinal defect. As Jersey Flegg coach with the Dragons in 2002, he took over from Andrew Farrar as first grade coach in 2003 with mixed results. In the early part of the 2003 season he attracted criticism when he ‘slapped’ the face of captain Trent Barrett on the sideline at Wollongong Stadium to motivate him and the following year watched his team unluckily bundled out of the semi-finals after losing to Penrith, 30-31. In the years since, with St George I’warra beaten in successive qualifying finals, Brown has weathered the criticism from fans, the media and pub critics and maturity and good humour.