AS a professional rugby league player, Kevin Brown played for six different clubs.
Brown began life with hometown club Wigan Warriors before progressing to the likes of Huddersfield Giants, Widnes Vikings and Warrington Wolves and ending with the Salford Red Devils with a loan spell at the then-named Leigh Centurions along the way.
All in all, Brown made 422 appearances for those clubs as well as earning ten England caps.
But, it could all have been very different for the playmaker if he had joined the Super League club that, he says, made an offer for him “a couple of times” instead of linking up with hometown club Wigan.
“I was so lucky to start my journey at the club I loved,” Brown said on the BBC Five Live podcast.
“I nearly went to St Helens a couple of times as Mike Rush (St Helens’ chief executive at present) was a big part of the youth development back then.
“He was coaching us and tried to sign me. A story, when I carried the trophy out (in the 2021 Super League Grand Final) after I retired, he said I could have had more of them if I had listened to him when I was 15!”
That being said, Brown learnt from the very best at Wigan, name dropping a whole host of stars that he played alongside.
“I was still going to watch the games at 15 so every game felt incredible at Wigan. It was bizarre, the likes of Kris Radlinski, Andy Farrell and Craig Smith were superstars of the game. There was Denis Betts, Mick Cassidy and Terry O’Connor.
“I had been watching them for years so when I got put in with them, they all seemed so much older than me. That meant I naturally stayed with the likes of Luke Robinson, Martin Aspinwall and Danny Tickle and the young lads.
“It was a fantastic way of doing your apprenticeship under such good pros. If you did anything wrong, you’d get a clip – it was old school. It’s not like it is now where you can talk back, you put your head down.
“I absolutely loved it, it made me such a better person and better player.”
