Big Pete
International Captain
- Mar 12, 2008
- 32,053
- 25,574
It's an extradinary decision by the Broncos.
If you look through the club's history, only seven players have played halfback in their teenage years. If you dig further, only two of them were 18 years or younger - Brett Seymour and Andrew McCullough. Neither of whom had the challenge of cementing themselves as the starting halfback at the club.
It's rare to see a club display this amount of confidence in somebody so young and so inexperienced. A part of it is because the Brisbane Broncos had to make a change at 7, but the other is the confidence they have in Dearden.
A couple of years ago, the talk coming out of Brisbane was about Cory Paix and Tanah Boyd. These two were considered two of the best halves to come through the system in a number of years and were being talked up at the same level of a Ben Hunt, Corey Norman and Ash Taylor.
Then all of a sudden, this 16 year old kid from Mackay, Tom Dearden eclipsed both of them. Despite Paix and Boyd achieving great success at junior level, Dearden was the player the Broncos showed the most amount of confidence in. I can't exactly pinpoint when that may have been the case, but it could have been in the Mal Meninga Cup last year where Dearden at 17-years of age was right up there with fellow Palm Beach Currumbin David Fifita as the most dangerous player in the competition. Both players finished the year on the same amount of tries, 12, except Dearden achieved that feat in two less games.
Like David, the best quality I've seen out of Dearden is that he doesn't looked fazed at Queensland Cup level. Sometimes players try too hard to make an impression and end up shooting themselves in the foot. With Dearden, I feel he's got that much confidence in his own game, he's been happy for Scarlett to direct the play and add his touches when he can. He isn't like a Mitchell Moses where he has to be the dominant play-maker to be effective, he can adapt and be that support option.
I have my reservations about playing him at this stage of his career in this role, but the Brisbane Broncos have a massive rap on him and we'll get to see if their confidence is rewarded. While we're making comparisons, and I can definitely see the likeness to Lockyer, the last time I saw the club show this amount of confidence in somebody this young was Karmichael Hunt. I never saw a 17-year old as good as Karmichael, so I hope that's a good omen for Tom. I just hope in Tom's case, he doesn't have as bad an opening 10 minutes as Karmichael did. Once K got through that, he could get through anything.
List of Teenage Halfbacks
Berrick Barnes - Halfback Debut at 19 - 1 Game at Halfback
Ben Hunt - Halfback debut at 19 - 105 Games at Halfback
Andrew McCullough - Halfback debut at 18 - 1 Game at Halfback
Joel Moon - Halfback debut at 19 - 2 Games at Halfback
Corey Norman - Halfback debut at 19 - 1 Game at Halfback
Brett Seymour - Halfback debut at 17 - 46 Games at Halfback
Ben Walker - Halfback debut at 19 - 19 Games
If you look through the club's history, only seven players have played halfback in their teenage years. If you dig further, only two of them were 18 years or younger - Brett Seymour and Andrew McCullough. Neither of whom had the challenge of cementing themselves as the starting halfback at the club.
It's rare to see a club display this amount of confidence in somebody so young and so inexperienced. A part of it is because the Brisbane Broncos had to make a change at 7, but the other is the confidence they have in Dearden.
A couple of years ago, the talk coming out of Brisbane was about Cory Paix and Tanah Boyd. These two were considered two of the best halves to come through the system in a number of years and were being talked up at the same level of a Ben Hunt, Corey Norman and Ash Taylor.
Then all of a sudden, this 16 year old kid from Mackay, Tom Dearden eclipsed both of them. Despite Paix and Boyd achieving great success at junior level, Dearden was the player the Broncos showed the most amount of confidence in. I can't exactly pinpoint when that may have been the case, but it could have been in the Mal Meninga Cup last year where Dearden at 17-years of age was right up there with fellow Palm Beach Currumbin David Fifita as the most dangerous player in the competition. Both players finished the year on the same amount of tries, 12, except Dearden achieved that feat in two less games.
Like David, the best quality I've seen out of Dearden is that he doesn't looked fazed at Queensland Cup level. Sometimes players try too hard to make an impression and end up shooting themselves in the foot. With Dearden, I feel he's got that much confidence in his own game, he's been happy for Scarlett to direct the play and add his touches when he can. He isn't like a Mitchell Moses where he has to be the dominant play-maker to be effective, he can adapt and be that support option.
I have my reservations about playing him at this stage of his career in this role, but the Brisbane Broncos have a massive rap on him and we'll get to see if their confidence is rewarded. While we're making comparisons, and I can definitely see the likeness to Lockyer, the last time I saw the club show this amount of confidence in somebody this young was Karmichael Hunt. I never saw a 17-year old as good as Karmichael, so I hope that's a good omen for Tom. I just hope in Tom's case, he doesn't have as bad an opening 10 minutes as Karmichael did. Once K got through that, he could get through anything.
List of Teenage Halfbacks
Berrick Barnes - Halfback Debut at 19 - 1 Game at Halfback
Ben Hunt - Halfback debut at 19 - 105 Games at Halfback
Andrew McCullough - Halfback debut at 18 - 1 Game at Halfback
Joel Moon - Halfback debut at 19 - 2 Games at Halfback
Corey Norman - Halfback debut at 19 - 1 Game at Halfback
Brett Seymour - Halfback debut at 17 - 46 Games at Halfback
Ben Walker - Halfback debut at 19 - 19 Games
