NRL 2021: Tom Dearden reveals why he left the Broncos for the Cowboys
He was hailed as the halfback whizkid who would deliver another premiership for the Broncos. Instead, Tom Dearden has been lost to the Cowboys – and today he reveals why.
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Tom Dearden says his stint at Brisbane has not broken his self-belief and revealed how Johnathan Thurston’s offer to mentor him was a decisive factor in his decision to quit the Broncos for arch-rivals the Cowboys.
Dearden’s freefall at the Broncos has been one of the most explosive narratives of Brisbane’s head-spinning implosion over the past 18 months.
From being hailed as Brisbane’s next playmaking whizkid, Dearden suddenly fell out of favour with Broncos coach Kevin Walters, who refused to table an offer for the promising playmaker despite a poaching threat from Queensland foes the Cowboys.
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As the Broncos dithered, North Queensland swooped, securing Dearden on a three-year contract from next season, a situation expedited when Brisbane agreed to a mid-season transfer a fortnight ago.
A key plank in Dearden’s move to the tropics is the presence of Cowboys champion Thurston, who first met the halfback at a Queensland Academy of Sport camp in 2018 and has offered to turn the 20-year-old into a North Queensland maestro.
“‘JT is a huge factor,” said Dearden, who will play his second game for the Cowboys in Friday night’s clash against Cronulla in Townsville.
“JT has offered to help me.
“He obviously has a busy life but he says he is here to help and any chance I get to work with him and talk to him, I will take it with both hands.
“As I spend more time here I will get a chance to see him more. JT is someone I will be looking to help me and Michael Morgan (recently-retired Cowboys pivot) is another guy.
“He is around the club and he has done so much in the game.
“It’s been a really good move for me. The staff, the boys at the Cowboys and Todd (Payten, coach) have been welcoming.
“I have felt at home straight away.”
The careers of Dearden and Thurston are intriguingly intertwined. They both share the same manager in leading agent Sam Ayoub. And when Thurston played his 323rd and final NRL game against the Titans in 2018, Dearden, then just 17, was invited to a Gold Coast corporate box to watch him.
There was one special VIP sitting next to Dearden: Thurston’s good mate, Queensland Origin legend Cameron Smith.
It was tangible evidence Dearden was on a trajectory to the NRL, an ambition fuelled by the Mackay junior watching Thurston snap the winning field goal to sink the Broncos in the epic all-Queensland grand final of 2015.
“I was a bit starstruck meeting JT and Cam Smith at first, just shaking their hand was a thrill,” Dearden said.
“It’s nice to know JT is someone who is always around the club.
“Growing up, I was a mad Cowboys fan and a mad Johnathan Thurston fan, so to get the opportunity to learn from someone like him is a massive bonus for me.
“I loved the way JT played the game, the way he competed. He is someone I modelled my game on growing up and the way he held himself, a lot of young footballers looked up to JT.
“I always wanted to play the game like him, so I am definitely looking forward to picking his brain.”
Thurston once dubbed Dearden a 10-year NRL playmaker, which is why alarm bells rang when the blond-haired phenom began going off the rails at Red Hill.
Dearden was so highly rated he was blooded by former Broncos coach Anthony Seibold at 18 years and 50 days against South Sydney in 2019.
The Broncos believed they had finally found their best playmaker since Darren Lockyer. He was the halfback wonder boy who could pilot Brisbane to their seventh premiership.
But after just 22 NRL games, the Broncos began to lose faith in their young gem. Walters was so unconvinced he showed footage of Dearden to people he trusted in the game and asked them if they could see something special he wasn’t seeing himself.
Dearden refuses to be bitter about his Broncos experience, but admits Brisbane’s collapse as a club, claiming their first-ever wooden spoon last season, took a toll on him as an emerging playmaker.
“Yeah, I lost a bit of confidence, you could put it that way,” he said.
“We struggled to get results on the field and that doesn’t help with your personal confidence.
“I never expected to leave the Broncos mid-season. Obviously when I made my decision, I had planned to come up (to the Cowboys) next year, but it has worked out well for me to come earlier and start my journey now at the Cowboys.
“I will always appreciate that the Broncos gave me my opportunity and it‘s been a tough couple of years for the club. I enjoyed my time at the Broncos but I’m here now and looking forward.
“I want to finish the season strongly.”
Good judges not only like Dearden’s competitive fire, but his vision and composure in the nerve centre. The former Australian Schoolboys halfback insists he is suited to the No.7 jumper and will succeed as a long-term shot-caller at the Cowboys.
“I do think I’m a halfback,” he said. “I enjoy the halfback role and I feel I’m at my best when I am getting the team around the park and steering the side at seven.
“The NRL is hard, it‘s the strongest competition in the world and we had a tough couple of years at the Broncos which affected me. I know I need to keep working on my game and learning as much as I can. The more experience I get playing at NRL level, the better I will get.
“I definitely have that belief. I believe I can be a long-term playmaker in the NRL. I have a lot to give to the game and a lot to improve on. That‘s what I am doing at the moment.
“I have the hunger and drive to become a quality playmaker and that’s what I’m working towards at the Cowboys.
“Speaking to the coaching staff and Todd Payten, they had a really good clear plan in place for me.
“I do feel it’s a place where I can learn and take my game to the next level. I want to get results for the Cowboys and make the club successful again.”
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