After experiencing the lows of a last-placed finish under immense pressure at Brisbane in 2020, Tom Dearden has found a new home for himself in Townsville โ€“ and he doesnโ€™t want to leave, declaring his desire to remain a Cowboy for life.

Having been touted as the future of the famous Red Hill club, Deardenโ€™s 22-game spell at the Broncos presented challenge after challenge, with the disappointment of Anthony Seiboldโ€™s reign and a lack of opportunity under Kevin Walters ultimately leading to a premature release from his contract.

Itโ€™s a long way from the glittery high of a first career preliminary final, but the challenges heโ€™s encountered have made his rapid rise into the spotlight all the more meaningful.

โ€œI grew up a mad Cowboys supporter and it was my dream to play for the Cowboys,โ€ Dearden told the Courier Mail.

โ€œIt worked out pretty cool that Iโ€™m playing up here. It never happened with the Cowboys when I was younger.

โ€œIt definitely feels like Iโ€™m home. Iโ€™m loving my time up here. Itโ€™s been a really good move for footy and also for personally, Iโ€™m enjoying being back in North Queensland.

โ€œWeโ€™re a little more isolated up here, weโ€™re the only team so weโ€™ve got a lot of support and fans and itโ€™s all pretty positive.โ€

Despite arriving under a cloud of uncertainty and carrying a challenging experience, itโ€™s been a remarkable turnaround in the space of 18 months for Dearden. His efforts on the field have drawn acclaim all year, and as well as a preliminary finals berth, his form also resulted in a debut State of Origin call-up.

โ€œItโ€™s been a massive turnaround for me,โ€ Dearden said.

โ€œIโ€™ve absolutely loved my transition up here, the club is awesome, the players are awesome and the coaching staff are awesome as well.

โ€œIโ€™ve developed a lot of confidence from that Origin game. Just being around the personnel and the coaching staff they had in the Maroons camp, I learnt so much about playing in high-pressure situations.

โ€œAfter winning that decider, I came back to the NRL with my confidence higher than ever.โ€

That mental fortitude was on display in the Cowboysโ€™ last game โ€“ a thrilling qualifying final win over the Cronulla Sharks in Sydney.

โ€œThat win over the Sharks showed how hard weโ€™ve worked this year and if you hang in there and have a tough mindset, you can win any game really late.

โ€œWe just have this mentality where we never give up, we just keep turning up for each other.

โ€œNorth Queensland has never hosted a preliminary final, so weโ€™re going to have a sold out crowd full of Cowboys supporters. I canโ€™t wait.โ€