Telstra Tracker data reveals Cowboys star Tom Dearden is the NRL’s fittest player

Being crowned the fittest player of the most physically demanding sport in the world is no small feat – and for the official ironman of the NRL his record-busting achievements began in pre-season.

North Queensland football boss Micheal Luck has declared Tom Dearden is going nowhere after the off-contract Cowboys playmaker was crowned the NRL’s fittest man.

On the day Dearden became a free agent, an exclusive News Corp analysis of the NRL’s official GPS tracking data revealed the Cowboys five-eighth is the ultimate ironman of the premiership.

The NRL’s Telstra Tracker captured the data of all 502 players during the 2023 season and no man covered more terrain than Queensland Origin star Dearden.

The former Broncos rookie covered an average of 9.2km per game this season, edging Dragons fullback Tyrell Sloan (9.16km) and Penrith maestro Nathan Cleary (9.15km).

Dearden logged a staggering 211km across his 23-game NRL season – the equivalent of running five marathons in a year.

The 22-year-old laid down a marker in pre-season, smashing the Cowboys’ club record with an impressive run of 4min 32sec in the 1.2km time trial.

Dearden is famed as one of the Cowboys’ hardest trainers and the revelation he is the NRL’s fittest man will only add to his market value at a time when rival clubs are circling Cameron Munster’s Queensland Origin understudy.

Tom Dearden, along with Reece Walsh and Selwyn Cobbo, are among the fittest and fastest in the game.

On the outer at the Broncos just two years ago, Dearden was thrown a lifeline by the Cowboys and Luck paid tribute to a mental toughness that ­underpins the playmaker’s peerless GPS mileage data.

“Tom has a great attitude to training, his numbers don’t surprise me,” Luck said.

“When we do our runs up Castle Hill, no-one gets near him. Tom is usually 20 or 30 seconds ahead of the rest, he is not only very fit, but very mentally resilient as well.

“Ever since he was a schoolboy, he was just super competitive and that’s why he’s made it to this level. Tom is the ultimate competitor, he is the gold standard for us. He is always on the ball.

“When we have the footy, he is always moving around and when we don’t have the ball, he has a great ability to work off the ball.

“He does a lot of defending. He is always covering in support and if there is a threat on the other side of the field, Tom goes over and above to put himself into the game.

“He doesn’t leave anything in the tank, that’s for sure.”

The NRL’s new November 1 contracting period has officially begun, meaning Dearden, off-contract at the end of next season, can field formal offers from rival clubs.

It is understood the Dragons are eyeing off Dearden, who could command upwards of $900,000 on the open market, but Luck remains confident the Australian Prime Minister’s XIII ace will ink a new deal.

“We know we want to keep him,” Luck said.

“He enjoys being coached by Toddy (Payten, Cowboys coach) and he has played his best footy up here, so we’d like to think Tom will stay.

“We just need to work through the process over the next few weeks.”

While Dearden excelled in the NRL’s Telstra Tracker distance readings, others to impress included Sloan and Cleary, who underlined his value to Penrith by covering more mileage than any Panther, including fullback Dylan Edwards. Roosters playmaker Luke Keary (9km) and Storm rookie Jonah Pezet (8.9km) finished fourth and fifth, while Dearden’s halves partner Chad Townsend (8.9km) claimed sixth spot.

Sharks duo Blayke Brailey (8.9km) and Nicho Hynes (8.87km) covered major territory alongside Roosters flyer Billy Smith (8.89km), while Broncos sensation Ezra Mam rounded out the top 10. Mam averaged 8.8km a game.

SELWYN COBBO: BRONCOS SPEED DEMON

Everything Broncos sensation Selwyn Cobbo does is fast.

From his rapid rise to the NRL, to his meteoric surge into the Origin and Test arena, to his explosive statistical performances for the Broncos, it’s no surprise Cobbo is one of the NRL’s excitement machines.

The NRL’s Telstra Tracker data, exclusively obtained by News Corp, shows Cobbo is not only one of the NRL’s most naturally gifted athletes, but among their most powerful.

The GPS readings captured a number of categories this season, including two areas related purely to raw speed.

Selwyn Cobbo. Picture: Albert Perez/Getty Images

They are metres covered from “high-speed runs” in excess of 20km/h, and metres covered from “very high-speed runs” in excess of 25km/h.

Of the 502 players to appear in the premiership this season, just three featured in both categories – Cobbo, Manly winger Jason Saab and Warriors try­scoring ace Dallin Watene-Zelezniak.

Dally M winger of the year Watene-Zelezniak could have claims to being the most explosive athlete in the NRL.

The Kiwi Test flyer covered the most metres at speeds in excess of 25km/h, averaging 240m per game, ranking him No.1 ahead of Saab (234m) and Canterbury’s Josh Addo-Carr (227m).

Cobbo (209m) came in fourth, while the Broncos winger also featured in the top 10 in the “high-speed runs” category, logging an average of 621 metres per game running at 20km/h or more.

The 21-year-old, who made his NRL debut in 2021, added 5kg to his frame this season and it clearly didn’t affect his speed.

Cobbo finished the 2023 campaign with 20 tries from 24 appearances, including three hat-tricks, sealing his Test debut against Samoa a fortnight ago as a member of Australia’s Pacific Championships squad.

Brisbane recruitment chief Simon Scanlan signed Cobbo to the Broncos Academy from Cherbourg and says his development as an NRL star is extraordinary.

“Selwyn is a powerful ball runner and with power comes speed,” Scanlan said.

“He is effective with his yardage carries, which helps our team get momentum coming out of our own end as he is a 100kg-plus outside back.

“Selwyn first moved down from Cherbourg at the completion of Year 12 only three years ago and since then, he’s worked hard and matured into a representative player.”

Cobbo’s Broncos teammate Reece Walsh was ranked seventh in the “very-high speeds” list, averaging 191m per game above 25km/h. Others to feature in the top 10 included Warriors centre Rocco Berry (199m), Roosters recruit Dominic Young (198.5m), Titans rookie Alofiana Khan-Pereira (185m), Dragons fullback Tyrell Sloan (174m) and Souths winger Alex Johnston (176m).

Originally published as Telstra Tracker data reveals Cowboys star Tom Dearden is the NRL’s fittest player