The decision to give Dylan Brown one last hurrah before joining Newcastle on a $14 million mega deal was “not a reward, but a mark of respect for the way he’s handled himself”, says Parramatta coach Jason Ryles.

The Eels cannot play finals football this season but more than 20,000 fans will head to CommBank Stadium on Sunday, partly to farewell Brown, but mostly to celebrate the end of a campaign that has exceeded expectations.

Brown, who announced at the start of the season he would take up a 10-year deal with Newcastle, has been used sparingly during the second half of the season, and certainly not in his preferred No.6 jersey – with young gun Joash Papalii preferred at five-eighth.

“I’d been thinking about Dylan for a while, and while we were never going to make room for him this las

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