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Why Broncos should “hang their heads in shame”
Nicholas Quinlan • July 11th, 2025 1:07 pm
The Courier Mail’s Peter Badel has slammed the Brisbane Broncos after letting halfback Tom Dearden walk from the club back in 2021.
The criticism comes following Dearden's stellar performance for Queensland in Origin III.
Dearden was a talented junior rising through the ranks of the Broncos academy after being identified as a halfback capable of leading the next generation of superstars at the club.
During his three seasons as a Bronco, he only won four of a possible 22 matches, which saw them pick up the wooden spoon for the first time back in 2020.
Falling of favour at Red Hill, the Queensland halfback would leave for the North Queensland Cowboys mid-season, joining the likes of Xavier Coates, David Fifita and Reece Walsh (who later rejoined) in departing the club during the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
As a Cowboy, Dearden has shown the talent that the Broncos saw in him as a junior, helping take the North Queensland side from 15th in 2021 to 3rd in 2022 and would take them back to the finals in 2024. He has also been named captain of North Queensland in 2024.
This form has also seen him selected for the Maroons since 2022 and now promoted to the No. 7 jersey in Game II this year.
And in Game III, he repaid the faith shown by Billy Slater with a man-of-the-match performance, scoring two tries which helped him claim the player of the series and the series win.
As a result, Badel has called out the Broncos for not showing faith in the star halfback when he was still developing within the side.
“I’ve got to say that the Broncos should hang their heads in shame over this,” Badel said on SENQ Breakfast.
“I mean, he was in their system, he was in the Broncos academy, they were bringing him through. He was identified as a 15-year playmaker and he was just let go.
“In the end, they just lost faith in him, even though he was 21 at the time, and they were not convinced he would take the next step.
“And it’s a credit to the Cowboys and Todd Payten, their coach, that they picked him up on a mid-season transfer. His confidence was absolutely shot, and they showed faith in him, they showed patience in him.
“I spoke with Todd Payten, who said they could have put him in reserve grade, but he chose to keep in the NRL to get his confidence back. So well done to the Cowboys because the Broncos have lost a generational talent.”
Badel was not the only one to praise Dearden following Game III.
Queensland legend Wally Lewis believes that Dearden’s performance was one of the best he has seen and was glad that the selectors backed him after dropping Daly Cherry-Evans after Game I.
“Most people thought that he (DCE) would get one more go at it, particularly with Game III being the series decider,” Lewis said on SEN1170’s The Run Home.
“I think most of the old-timers thought they’ll (the selectors) would hold on, they won’t panic. Who were they going to put in? 'Well, Tom, he’s played in a couple of different positions, it’s a while since he’s worn the No. 7 jersey on and worn it with great pride’.
“And Queensland has always had a thing that they like to give them one game too many, then too few. I know that sounds sort of strange, but I probably thought they would have gone that way.
“(The selection of Dearden) turned out to be a wonderful call made by the selectors and the coach, and it worked.
“That’s one of the best performances I’ve seen from a guy that was under enormous pressure, and he certainly deserves plenty of credit.”
Dearden will follow up his Origin performance with a clash against the Bulldogs on Saturday night at Townsville.
