Pelting rain and huge puddles don't faze Eels five-eighth Dylan Brown, who was in his element on Sunday as he relived memories of junior football in New Zealand.
And it showed in his performance against the Sharks, with the 20-year-old scoring the opening try and setting up another as the backbone of the 14-12 win at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium.
"Towards the end of the game it was very much like a mud patch out there. I'm not going to lie, it was pretty fun," Brown said.
"It's just like New Zealand back home in winter. Especially in the league season, it's the exact same."
Perhaps it was no coincidence then that Brown and Cronulla's 29-year-old Kiwi talisman Shaun Johnson were the standouts. Johnson kicked well in general play and set up two tries.
"Shaun would've been doing it [in the wet] for his whole life. I was only there [in New Zealand] when I was a kid," Brown said.
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"Shaun had a real good game tonight as well. I always pinch myself playing against any players, but when it's players like him, looking up to him ... Benji Marshall a few weeks back and now Shaun Johnson.
"It's pretty cool, it's pretty fun, but I'm on the same level as them so I've got to grow up and act like I'm part of the NRL."
Brown threw a massive dummy to score from the play-the-ball in the first half and later produced another convincing fake to slice through a gap and offload for Kane Evans to cross.
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"That's just me – when I freak out I just dummy and run!" Brown said. "They work out sometimes, sometimes they don't. They worked out in my favour this week."
Eels coach Brad Arthur lauded Brown, saying he "played the conditions nearly the best in our team. It's not bad for a young bloke".
Arthur revealed prop Junior Paulo took the initiative of ordering his teammates to push in a scrum that helped them steal the ball and earn the game-winning penalty.
Mitch Moses kicked the decisive 69th-minute penalty goal moments after Parramatta came up with possession against the feed thanks largely to Paulo's quick thinking.
"It was a pretty crucial time, wasn't it. So that's Junior for you, he's a footballer and came up with that call," Arthur said.
"We have a call for it, but I didn't think of it at the time."
While Sharks coach John Morris felt his troops had some crucial decisions go against them, Arthur was happy with the Eels' grit in the conditions despite conceding "we've got plenty to work on".
Dylan Brown and the biggest dummy ever
"It's not always going to be pretty and we're not always going to execute our plan to the best, but we're winning all kinds of different ways and finding a way to win," he said.
"It is important. It keeps us in that top-four hunt."
Arthur described hard-running lock Nathan Brown, who made 213 metres in 65 minutes, as "phenomenal".
