DEARDEN FEELS RIGHT AT HOME IN THE NORTH
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.
He 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.
“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.”