OFFICIAL Tom Dearden lost to Cowboys

The Cowboys have offered Tommy Dearden a paltry three-year deal worth a mere $1 million sealed with a dubious promise to be mentored by some guy named Jonathon Thurston. According to Dobbo, that works out to be cool $1 million dollars a year, maybe more if you count it in potatoes, but you might want to double check his maths.

Thurston's single premiership pales beside Dearden's current brains trust of Langer & Walters who've each won more premierships than Dobbo can count.

Greedy Cowboys football-operations baron Michael Luck said:

“Now that we’ve got Chad, we haven’t ruled out Tom at all. We would still love to have him here and we believe they could work well together as a halves pairing. He is still coming through and learning the ropes and we think Tom can do a wonderful apprenticeship riding shotgun with Chad and then potentially take over from him and be a long-term playmaker at our club."

“It would be great news if Tom accepts our offer. Tom has shown some things we like, so we would love for him to be here. Tom grew up in Mackay, he was part of our junior academy five or six years ago and then he went to Palm Beach Currumbin (on the Gold Coast) to finish school."

Cowboys looking for a young playmaker

“He has done a great job coming through the ranks during a trying period for the Broncos as a club. I know it’s a big decision from Tom so we will give him time and space. We know he is a wonderfully loyal kid, he has come through the system at the Broncos and if he leaves it’s a big decision for him, so we’re not putting any deadlines on him.”

Let's hear it for Townsville!

Meanwhile local legend Kevin Walters is having none of it:

“Tom is part of our system so at this stage we are not looking outside the circle. We don’t anticipate losing Tom. He has been a good player for us in our systems and he’s still learning the game but we see little bits of improvement in Tom each week and we expect that again tomorrow night from him… no problems there with Tommy."

"We have been through everything with Tommy, he has a nice clear picture in his head about his job in the side and we are confident he can do that job for us (on Friday night) and moving forward as well.”

“If you wear a seven jumper these days you are linked to the Broncos, so that part of it… we are a big club, we are a strong club. It’s great to know other players want to come and play at the Broncos, that’s what it is all about. For us, we have our structures around what we will be doing and won’t be going outside those structures.”

“Adam Reynolds is a good player and there is some interest in him, but we need to tie up Kotoni Staggs first and if and when we do that, we will look at our other scrumbase options."

Mitchell Moses, another rumoured player of interest said:

“I‘d love to stay at the Eels, that’s my main thing, I’ve made that clear to them but that’s up them now if they want to keep me or if my management will sort it all out. When a contract is ready to go my management will let me know.”

“The ultimate goal is to get a premiership. But everyone is different Everyone is in a different situation and different ages, all those types of things. The premiership pact gets tossed around every now and then but nothing in depth. The way footy is at the moment everyone looks after themselves and that‘s how it is.”

McHunt

 

[Culhwch]

The Cowboys seemed to have such a raging hard on for Tom was there any real danger of them pulling their offer if he waited for the Broncos to table a deal? Easy to say now he'd have signed a lifetime contract without actually having terms specified. Just reeks of PR face-saving...

Wonderful things libraries, can read books without buying them. no purchase=no royalties.

Actually it is possible for authors to still make money off library copies: https://www.arts.gov.au/funding-and-support/lending-rights.

 

[broncos4life]

So we don't offer someone a contract and suddenly we're the devil? I have no doubt it was clearly communicated to him what was required of him for a contract to be offered. Much like the rest of the players coming off contract this year i.e Milf.

Apples and oranges i know but in 7* games this year he has 1 try assist and one line break and 0 line break assists. His replacement in Tyson Gamble in 4 ISC games has 4 try assists and 4 line break assists. To add to that, in 2019 out of 11 games gamble had 9 try assists. I cant find his stats for his 2018 stats from NSW cup but 2017 he played 20 games with 15 try assists.

Again totally acknowledging its comparing apples and oranges and im definitely not suggesting Gamble is the answer. Just showing that Deaden has no right to complain and gamble probably is worthy of a crack.

Add to this that he was very publicly shopping himself to the Cowboys and visiting their facilities in the fucking pre-season. I have such little respect for him now, even Fifita had more class in leaving than this clown.

 

[Kooly87]

I honestly don't blame us for not offering him a contract as frankly, while he hasn't done a lot wrong, he hasn't exactly set the world on fire either. I think the club was well within it's rights to want to see a bit more from him before hitching their wagon to him long term. Too often we've gone hard early and been left with egg on our faces and I'm not upset with us for wanting to be more conservative with unproven talent because it's long overdue.

Equally, I can also appreciate Dearden taking the Cowboys offer and running, and I don't really blame him either. The club has been an utter shambles during his time in First Grade and he's been chopped and changed in and out of the side from week to week and is undoubtedly very unsure about where he stands in the pecking order now or going into 2022, especially as talk grows of Brisbane hunting the likes of Reynolds etc.

The Cowboys have been a shambles too, but they have a fairly highly rated new Coach and are in the middle of a roster cleanout and unlike the Broncos, they HAD seen enough to want to commit to Dearden long term. Whether you think they've got that call right or wrong, surely you could objectively see why that security and decisiveness would be tempting for Tom Dearden. The kid was every chance of spending all season between two grades and then winding up with nothing from the Broncos and no offer from anyone else by the end of the year either. Weighing that up vs the security of a million bucks over the next three years and a virtually guaranteed starting spot every week, I can't say I blame him at all for taking the security, especially when you consider how dysfunctional the club he's walking away from is right now.

If our house was in better order, it's not so hard to convince these kids to stay and fight for their future, but we're simply not in a position these days to play 'hard to get' the way we used to and whilst the Cowboys aren't either, they were the ones who actually offered a contract.

 

[the_next]

I’m torn on the Tommy situation. I had such high hopes and agree that he hasn’t shown anything that screems future superstar, but any half in this side is going to struggle atm imo. Sounds like we never made TD an offer, which also confuses me. He would have been decent depth at the club. I would have been happier to keep him around over Milford/Croft/B.Walters 2022+.
I find it interesting his manager has come out and said he would have been a bronco for life.
The club should now go back to him and offer him 200k on a 3yr contract and see what happens (assuming we are still within the 10 day cooling off period).
The cowboys did come out and say they weren’t putting a deadline on him, as they knew it was a massive decision for Tom. So why sign with the cowsgirls, when there was still the possibility that The Broncos would come to the party?
I feel like we are going all in on a half. we obviously don’t know who that is at this stage. There is the very real possibility that we don’t have any recognised half for 2022. Kev has taken a massive gamble imo.

 

[theshed]

I’m torn on the Tommy situation. I had such high hopes and agree that he hasn’t shown anything that screems future superstar, but any half in this side is going to struggle atm imo. Sounds like we never made TD an offer, which also confuses me. He would have been decent depth at the club. I would have been happier to keep him around over Milford/Croft/B.Walters 2022+.
I find it interesting his manager has come out and said he would have been a bronco for life.
The club should now go back to him and offer him 200k on a 3yr contract and see what happens (assuming we are still within the 10 day cooling off period).
The cowboys did come out and say they weren’t putting a deadline on him, as they knew it was a massive decision for Tom. So why sign with the cowsgirls, when there was still the possibility that The Broncos would come to the party?
I feel like we are going all in on a half. we obviously don’t know who that is at this stage. There is the very real possibility that we don’t have any recognised half for 2022. Kev has taken a massive gamble imo.

Kev said they couldn’t compete with the Cows offer, and that although they would’ve loved to keep Tom in their system he was not far enough along his development for the money the cows offered. Which I think is reasonably fair assessment provided that a better option is already locked up.

The cooling off period is well and truly over as clubs can’t announce a signing until that time has passed. When the cows made that comment about not putting a deadline on Tom because it was a big decision, if you do the math, Tom had already signed the contract (the statement was made during the cooling period). Easy to say you weren’t gonna rush a player to make a decision when that decision was already made.

 

[broncsgoat]

It was pretty clear he was gone when they were posturing for a release this season

 

[Kimlo]

Kev said they couldn’t compete with the Cows offer, and that although they would’ve loved to keep Tom in their system he was not far enough along his development for the money the cows offered. Which I think is reasonably fair assessment provided that a better option is already locked up.

The cooling off period is well and truly over as clubs can’t announce a signing until that time has passed. When the cows made that comment about not putting a deadline on Tom because it was a big decision, if you do the math, Tom had already signed the contract (the statement was made during the cooling period). Easy to say you weren’t gonna rush a player to make a decision when that decision was already made.

Yeah he signed a few days after the Penrith game.

 

[broncos4life]

It was pretty clear he was gone when they were posturing for a release this season

Yep. I reckon he had verbally agreed way before that too and the release bullshit was "We want you from 2022 but it's worth more to you if you can get here now".

To put this all in perspective this little **** that has achieved nothing basically spent all of this year working out his deal with one of our main rivals instead of actually focusing on his game, and you know, maybe achieving something.

 

[Unbreakable]

The fact he started the season in reserve grade says to me he probably verbally agreed with the Cowboys over the off-season and was just told to hang tight in Brisbane until they sorted out their cap to sign him (Clifford to the Knights, Morgan retirement, Molo to the Dragons, Moose released)

 

[Waynesaurus]

Yep. I reckon he had verbally agreed way before that too and the release bullshit was "We want you from 2022 but it's worth more to you if you can get here now".

To put this all in perspective this little **** that has achieved nothing basically spent all of this year working out his deal with one of our main rivals instead of actually focusing on his game, and you know, maybe achieving something.

Perhaps this is why no offer was forthcoming, respect flows both ways, perhaps the club and Kevvie were absolutely pissed that a guy we had openly said was our future and that Tom had said he wanted to be here forever decided to then wander off and tour the facilities of one of our biggest rivals.

Just need to do the same with Staggs, his fiasco has dragged on far to long, did the club learn nothing from Fifita?

 

[theshed]

Yeah he signed a few days after the Penrith game.

Yeah and I suspect both he and the cows knew about it well before then. As Broncsgoat said, and as I said at the time, a team doesn’t ask for a mid season release of a player they dont have signed on.

I think the deal was all but agreed to and Dearden and his manager were holding out hoping the broncos would panic buy like they did with Piakura and Flegler and give him some bullshit deal. Kev didn’t fold though and so they took what was on the table and tried to frame it as Broncos mistreatment.

Players who want to be a bronco for life don’t tour other clubs in the off season and dangle the deal over the clubs head. Good on him and all the best but I hope this means a line has been drawn in the sand regarding bad contracts.

Also, I shit on Kev for flip flopping but he must have known this was happening, there’s no way he couldn’t have. So by publicly stating that Dearden is the clubs future and we want him here, even when the ink has dried, I think what that does is show everyone that Dearden left for money.

 

[Broncapz]

It' seems odd to me that THEY COULDNT WAIT A FEW FUCKING DAYS FOR THE NEW CEO TO COME IN before commiting.

You know why there hasn't been an offer? Blame the storm for making us wait for the CEO.

 

[Maroon4life]

I’m not concerned that he’s left.

In a team of very low quality he hasn’t stood out in any area of his game, he’s blended right in. If we are to use Haas as the example of a player standing out in a team full of plodders it’s a fair comparison to TD.

He’s 19 but if he was good and ready for the NRL we would have seen it by now. Cows can take the gamble and develop him.

 

[tommy]

Wonderful things libraries, can read books without buying them. no purchase=no royalties.

Still wouldn’t read it.

 

[Wolfie]

I'm not going to write the bloke of yet, but usually when you have a really, really good young player you can clearly see it, you can pick why people rate him so highly. I'm not seeing that with Dearden.

 

[HarryAllan7]

So it boils down to Dearden walked because Broncos weren't willing to pay a pretty modest salary in order to secure a POTENTIALLY elite spine player.

Exact same situation as Walsh.

We've let a highly rated young 1 and 7 (of which there are very few in the whole competition) walk by suddenly being extremely tight with our re-signing money, having been far too liberal previously.

It's a noble stance but completely stupid implementation. Elite spine players are so rare, and these are pretty small contracts in the scheme of things which give you the opportunity to hold onto potential future superstars... If they didn't work out, then they were only small contracts anyway - no harm done. If these players go on to be superstars then these decisions will look utterly ridiculous. The risk - reward of failing to resign these 2 players is completely off and the club should be able to analyse that.

We gambled on $1m Milf contract and lost big, seems it's left us far too gun shy now. The prices these kids were asking may have been too much for their current experience and production level, yes, but in the big picture of running a team - taking a punt by giving future key playmakers $400-$500k per year is a low-risk, high-return play.

Maybe Walsh and Dearden will amount to nothing, and these decisions were the correct ones, but it won't change the fact that the risk-reward profile is completely wrong and their meagre salaries were well worth the gamble of keeping them on board.

 

[Wolfie]

So it boils down to Dearden walked because Broncos weren't willing to pay a pretty modest salary in order to secure a POTENTIALLY elite spine player.

Exact same situation as Walsh.

We've let a highly rated young 1 and 7 (of which there are very few in the whole competition) walk by suddenly being extremely tight with our re-signing money, having been far too liberal previously.

It's a noble stance but completely stupid implementation. Elite spine players are so rare, and these are pretty small contracts in the scheme of things which give you the opportunity to hold onto potential future superstars... If they didn't work out, then they were only small contracts anyway - no harm done. If these players go on to be superstars then these decisions will look utterly ridiculous. The risk - reward of failing to resign these 2 players is completely off and the club should be able to analyse that.

We gambled on $1m Milf contract and lost big, seems it's left us far too gun shy now. The prices these kids were asking may have been too much for their current experience and production level, yes, but in the big picture of running a team - taking a punt by giving future key playmakers $400-$500k per year is a low-risk, high-return play.

Maybe Walsh and Dearden will amount to nothing, and these decisions were the correct ones, but it won't change the fact that the risk-reward profile is completely wrong and their meagre salaries were well worth the gamble of keeping them on board.

A million a year on two unproven players is a fair chunk of change in the position we are in right now. I think if we had a better balanced squad we could do it, but right now we need players who are proven.

Are their many clubs that have thrown such big money, i'm talking in the $400k-500k area to secure promising younger players outside of the Broncos? I'm sure blokes like Luai and Burton from the Panthers (and many others there actually ) for example didnt get such big contracts at similar stages to Walsh and Dearden. Outside of Ponga i'm struggling to think of any, but there are probably clear examples i'm overlooking.

 

[Financeguy]

I'm not going to write the bloke of yet, but usually when you have a really, really good young player you can clearly see it, you can pick why people rate him so highly. I'm not seeing that with Dearden.

Spot on, some many opportunities to at least show just some spark or moment that this player is/has class but in the end totally forgettable contributions to the team.

I feel like we have just lost a Brett Firman or Luke Walsh type talent...so what...