I would take all rumours of the club being linked to any player, and any of our uncontracted players being to linked to any other club as meaningless speculation.
Our club will be considering EVERY player who's coming off contract, and likewise EVERY club will be considering all our off-contract players. It's the player manager's job to get their client in front of every club, and talk up the competition. And the job of our recruitment committee to consider all options before investing in retention. The mind games being played are to create the illusion of demand for players to drive up their value, and the illusion of fierce competition and uncertainty to drive down their value.
Talk of Karmichael Hunt wanting to donate his time out of charity to sort out the number 6, and Staggs being offered it as a contract lever have utterly undercut Milford. And now he's back in the QCup his value is next to nothing. Dearden barely holding his place and being threatened by the club talking to much more senior halves will have put him in his place when it comes to asking for more money as "the future of the club." But of course, the bluff being played out could land him in Townsville.
If Dearden wins the game for us this Friday, I will bet he's signed by next week.