{"id":839160,"date":"2026-08-02T04:54:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T04:54:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/839160\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T04:54:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T04:54:20","slug":"nrl-2026-tom-dearden-makes-huge-call-on-cowboys-future-after-months-of-speculation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/839160\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Tom Dearden makes huge call on Cowboys future after months of speculation"},"content":{"rendered":"

North Queensland Cowboys captain Tom Dearden is reportedly set to recommit to the club.<\/p>\n

It comes as rumours have swirled all season that the 25-year-old was considering asking for an early release from his $4 million contract, which runs until the end of 2029, to move to Sydney. <\/p>\n

The 25-year-old and his partner Millie Oliver are set to welcome their first child in October.<\/p>\n

And the successful hairstylist, who has a popular beauty studio in Sydney and calls the Harbour City home, according to Code Sports, is set to move to Townsville to support Dearden. <\/p>\n

According to the news outlet, the star playmaker will front a press conference on Monday to confirm he will remain a Cowboy.<\/p>\n

Both the club and Dearden\u2019s camp have remained adamant that he would remain a Cowboy, despite the persistent rumours suggesting it may not be the case.<\/p>\n

Code\u2019s Brent Read told NRL 360 on Wednesday that personal reasons were behind reports of a move to Sydney.<\/p>\n

\u201cTommy\u2019s got a partner who lives in Sydney. She\u2019s now pregnant,\u201d Read said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s from and lives in Sydney, but I believe she\u2019s moving up there now since she\u2019s pregnant and there\u2019s been some talk that there\u2019s been some interest in Tommy leaving the Cowboys.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Cowboys have denied this several times. There were rumours that his management met the club to talk about potentially leaving if his partner can\u2019t settle into Townsville.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dearden signed a five-year contract extension in 2023, taking him through to the end of the 2029 season.<\/p>\n

\"Dearden<\/p>\n

His unique deal could see him become one of the NRL\u2019s first $2m per year players, with reports that he has a clause that ensures he is paid 12 per cent of the club\u2019s total salary cap from 2028 onwards.<\/p>\n

If the NRL salary cap rises to $20m by that time, he would be due to earn $2.4m per year.<\/p>\n

Dearden\u2019s 2026 season has been derailed by injury. He has been unable to get back on the field for the Cowboys since Round 10.<\/p>\n

Dearden suffered a syndesmosis injury during that match, and his return was pushed back indefinitely as a result of a high-grade peroneal muscle avulsion tear on his opposite leg.<\/p>\n

The club expect Dearden to return before the end of the season.<\/p>\n

Originally published as Tom Dearden makes huge call on NRL future after months of speculation<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"North Queensland Cowboys captain Tom Dearden is reportedly set to recommit to the club. It comes as rumours…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":839161,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[411621,411602,396688,411614,411615,411593,55611,93752,411623,41691,94840,386351,411619,411603,411607,411609,378662,408519,411612,382292,380260,402316,411604,397461,411617,64,63,411595,32092,68077,319865,411611,411618,394096,411613,392401,378779,411596,3899,411590,13052,9051,761,762,411591,158,397698,411625,411627,213578,41798,232,411610,81330,411600,411620,3203,85,670,400744,376431,411606,409145,411608,382205,34775,215379,377453,411599,411598,411605,380184,411626,411616,356269,411597,411622,411601,411594,776,25093,6649,41313,411624,411592],"class_list":["post-839160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-s-2026-season","tag-s-brent-read","tag-s-camp","tag-s-first-2m","tag-s-total-salary-cap","tag-2-4m","tag-55611","tag-93752","tag-2028-onwards-if","tag-41691","tag-20m","tag-a-clause","tag-a-cowboy","tag-a-cowboy-both","tag-a-five-year-contract-extension","tag-a-high-grade-peroneal-muscle-avulsion","tag-a-move","tag-a-partner","tag-a-popular-beauty-studio","tag-a-press-conference","tag-a-result","tag-a-syndesmosis-injury","tag-all-season","tag-an-early-release","tag-an-exit","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brian-too-metres","tag-cent","tag-code-sports","tag-dearden","tag-his-4-million-contract","tag-his-management","tag-his-mind","tag-his-opposite-leg-the-club","tag-his-partner","tag-his-return","tag-huge-call","tag-injury","tag-millie-oliver","tag-monday","tag-months","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-north-queensland-cowboys-captain-tom-dearden","tag-nrl","tag-nrl-360","tag-nrl-future","tag-october-and","tag-personal-reasons","tag-read","tag-reports","tag-round-10-dearden","tag-rumours","tag-some-interest","tag-some-talk","tag-speculation","tag-sports","tag-sydney","tag-that-match","tag-that-time","tag-the-2029-season-tom-dearden","tag-the-25-year-old","tag-the-case-code","tag-the-club","tag-the-cowboys","tag-the-end","tag-the-field","tag-the-harbour-city-home","tag-the-line-his-unique-deal","tag-the-news-outlet","tag-the-nrl","tag-the-nrl-salary-cap","tag-the-persistent-rumours","tag-the-season","tag-the-star-playmaker","tag-the-successful-hairstylist","tag-their-first-child","tag-this-several-times","tag-tom-dearden","tag-tommy","tag-townsville","tag-wednesday","tag-year-players","tag-year-dearden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=839160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/839161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=839160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=839160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=839160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}