NRL 2022: North Queensland star Tom Gilbert reveals motivation ahead of preliminary final
He may be about to play his last game for North Queensland, but Tom Gilbert won’t leave anything on the field - in a pledge to honour a late family member.
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Cowboys hit-man Tom Gilbert has spoken about the private pain driving his premiership quest as he strives to farewell North Queensland with a grand final swan song.
Gilbert will make his last appearance as a Cowboy in Townsville in Friday night’s sold-out preliminary final blockbuster against Parramatta at Queensland Country Bank Stadium.
Bound for expansion club the Dolphins next season, the game will be Gilbert’s last as a Cowboy if North Queensland loses to the Eels.
While his three years in Townsville are coming to an end, Gilbert is not finished yet and determined to depart the Cowboys with a premiership fairytale.
And he has many reasons to do so – none more important than honouring his late grandfather Errol, who died at age 83 on the eve of the finals.
Gilbert, 22, was incredibly close to Errol – who was ironically a Parramatta fan – and took a week off training to mourn the loss of one of his greatest supporters.
He has been wearing a black armband in recent weeks and looked to the heavens after scoring the opening try in North Queensland’s qualifying final win over Cronulla a fortnight ago.
“It was for my grandfather – he passed away a couple of weeks ago and it’s been a really tough time for my family,” Gilbert said.
“The thing I enjoy the most about footy is the impact it can have on not only the community but also my family as well.
“In what’s been a tough time for them, to score the opening try in my first finals match in the first exchanges…I couldn’t help but think of him and my family at the time.
“I’m a big believer that he is up there and with me. I was really stoked to get that try. I don’t score many and I couldn’t think of anyone else but him.
“We were really close. I used to live with him. When he was sick (Parkinson’s disease), we always spoke about footy and I could tell there was a change in his voice in a good way. He would be uplifted and was always interested.
“He was that kind of grandfather that really cared about his grandchildren. That’s something I hold close to my heart when I play footy.”
Gilbert has had a tremendous 2022 season after spending time in reserve grade last year.
He made his State of Origin debut for the Maroons in the thrilling series decider and is now one game away from a maiden NRL grand final.
He will once again be thrust into the opening exchanges against the red-hot Eels and Gilbert said his grandfather was inspiring his premiership charge.
“What happened with him has really ignited a spark in me,” Gilbert said.
“He never complained and one of our quotes is ‘Nothing Without Effort’.
“If I can do my job and this team can get it done, I know what it would mean to this town and also my family who are in a tough spot at the moment.
“Even if we don’t win, they’re going to be proud of me. But the reward of what lies ahead over the next two weeks will be huge for Townsville and my family.”
Despite loving life at the Cowboys, Gilbert made the decision to return to Brisbane next season for family reasons and to be closer to his twin brother.
He has no regrets about leaving a premiership-contending club for the unknown at Redcliffe and said he would give everything he had to take the Cowboys to a fourth grand final.
“There is part of me that can’t help but think (it may be my last game), I’m not going to deny that,” he said.
“But I don’t want to have that selfish attitude that this is about me. I play my best footy when I’m focused and relaxed.
“There’s no regrets. It was obviously a tough decision and at the time I thought very hard about what was happening. I love my footy but I love my family even more so there’s no regrets about that.
“I am enjoying my last couple of weeks here regardless. I know I’m going to miss this place. The only way I can do that justice right now is going out there this weekend and playing with good intentions and effort.
“This team is going to be a powerhouse for the next couple of years and I feel like this is the start of it. They’ve got young players that are starting to flourish and a blend of experience that’s really helping this club at the moment.
“That’s going to reap rewards in the years to come and I’m really glad I got to be part of the start of that.
“Whilst I’m leaving, I’ll always be a proud Cowboys fan and player. I will always remember my time up here for the right reasons.
DEARDEN FINDS HIS ‘TRUE’ CALLING AS A COWBOY
- Travis Meyn and Peter Badel
Tom Dearden wants to be a Cowboy for life after escaping the Brisbane fishbowl and Broncos furnace to revive his NRL career at dream club North Queensland.
Dearden will make his first appearance in an NRL preliminary final when the Cowboys host Parramatta at a sold-out Queensland Country Bank Stadium on Friday night.
The bright lights of an NRL grand final qualifier are a far cry from the murky depths Dearden found himself in at the Broncos not so long ago.
Once tipped to be Brisbane’s best halfback since Allan Langer, Dearden’s NRL launch was far from ideal as he found himself wallowing at a club in free fall.
After making his NRL debut at 18 in 2019, Dearden was in-and-out of the team during the Anthony Seibold era as Brisbane crashed to a historic wooden spoon in 2020.
He failed to get much of go under new coach Kevin Walters in 2021 before being released from his contract to join the Cowboys – the club he grew up dreaming of playing for.
Now Dearden is a Queensland State of Origin star on the cusp of playing in an NRL grand final and said he had found his true home in Townsville.
“I grew up a mad Cowboys supporter and it was my dream to play for the Cowboys,” said Dearden, who lived in Mackay from age five to 16.
“It’s worked out pretty cool that I’m playing up here. It never happened with the Cowboys when I was younger.
“It definitely feels like I’m home. I’m loving my time up here. It’s been a really good move for footy and also personally, I’m enjoying being back up in north Queensland.
“We are a little bit more isolated up here. We are the only team so we’ve got a lot of support and fans up here and it’s all pretty positive.
“My time in Brisbane wasn’t the right time. The club was under a fair bit of pressure and had a lot of young players coming through. It was a different environment to what it is up here.
“In the NRL there is always going to be pressure. It’s not like you can ever hide from that or get away from it, but I’m enjoying my time here. I feel a lot more comfortable and at home here.”
Dearden’s career resurrection has been nothing short of remarkable.
He arrived in Townsville midway through last year a shattered person and player following his turbulent tenure at the Broncos.
But in the space of a year he fought back from the brink, earning Queensland selection in the Origin decider where he dominated in the absence of Maroons star Cameron Munster.
Dearden, 21, was electric in North Queensland’s thrilling qualifying final win against Cronulla and will play a major role at five-eighth in the Cowboys’ first ever grand final qualifier in Townsville.
After some tough years at the Broncos, he has been blown away by what has happened in 2022 but isn’t done yet.
“It’s been a massive turnaround for me,” Dearden said.
“I have absolutely loved my move and my transition up here, the club is awesome, the players are awesome and the coaching staff are awesome as well.
“I have developed a lot of confidence from that Origin game. Just being around the personnel and the coaching staff they had in the Maroons camp, I learnt so much about playing in high-pressure situations, so that was the biggest learning.
“After winning that decider, I came back to the NRL with my confidence higher than ever.
“That win over the Sharks showed how hard we have worked this year and if you hang in there and have a tough mindset, you can win any game really late. We just have this mentality where we never give up, we just keep turning up for each other.
“North Queensland has never seen a prelim up here, so we’re going to have a sold out crowd full of Cowboys supporters, I can’t wait for it.”
Cash Cow: Payten’s eye-watering pay rise revealed
Cowboys coach Todd Payten is on the verge of inking of a $2 million-plus mega deal after hauling North Queensland out of the doldrums and into premiership contention.
The Courier-Mail can reveal Payten is in the final stages of negotiations with club bosses to extend his stay in Townsville in a coup for the Cowboys ahead of Friday’s grand-final qualifier against Parramatta at Queensland Country Bank Stadium.
Payten has emerged as one of the hottest masterminds in the code and is the frontrunner to win the Dally M coach-of-the-year award after taking the Cowboys from second last to title contenders in the space of 12 months.
Now North Queensland have upped the ante, with Payten in talks on a three-year extension to remain at the Cowboys until the end of 2026.
It is understood the upgrade will be worth in excess of $700,000 a season, sweet reward for Payten’s stunning transformation of the Cowboys after his turbulent rookie campaign in 2021.
The 43-year-old was already contracted for another 12 months but the Cowboys are wary of poaching threats for a coach they believe has the skill to deliver a second premiership to North Queensland.
Payten was linked to his former club Wests Tigers earlier this season, but the Cowboys mentor confirmed he is keen to finalise an extension in his plan to build a title dynasty in the tropics.
“We have started conversations (on a new deal) and it will get done when it’s done,” Payten said ahead of the Cowboys-Eels preliminary final at a sold out Queensland Country Bank Stadium.
“The Cowboys know I don’t want to go and I have told them the same, so we will work something out.
“I love coaching this club.
“I fell in love with the town and the club very quickly the first time around (when he joined the Cowboys as under-20s coach under Paul Green in 2015).
“The Cowboys are full of good people. The club is so professional, it’s a region where rugby league means something and the people of north Queensland are my kind of people.
“I’m a rugby league person through and through and so are they.”
Payten had a rocky start at the Cowboys in his debut year last season.
There was speculation he fell out with star co-captain Jason Taumalolo and was too hard on the playing group as the Cowboys crashed to 15th with just seven wins from 24 games.
But Payten’s tactical acumen and straight-shooting style has driven tougher standards at the Cowboys, whose playing group have displayed a harder edge this season in their stunning surge to third with 17 wins.
Payten is now one win away from a fairytale grand-final appearance and Cowboys chairman Lewis Ramsay insists the rising young mentor is going nowhere.
“He is signed until the end of next year and absolutely we would hope to retain him,” Ramsay said. “We will get into that stuff in the right sequence.
“I wouldn’t say it was all smooth sailing. Todd had some difficult periods last year where he will admit he questioned himself.
“But there was a general belief that what we had here would bear results.
“He had the vision around strategy.
“He has an ability to find talent and diamonds amongst the rough. He has an innate ability to identify those players that can become something and helps them believe in themselves.
“He is only a young coach but has a very distinguished career ahead of him.”
Payten is at the vanguard of the NRL’s next generation of top coaches and he lauded the character of Cowboys players to buy into his vision for success.
“The players here at the Cowboys are terrific men, that’s what I am most proud about,” he said.
“I’m not surprised at all by the success we’ve had this season because I have a great group of guys who play for the Cowboys jersey – the club and the town really means something to them.”
Originally published as NRL 2022: North Queensland star Tom Gilbert reveals motivation ahead of preliminary final
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