{"id":62389,"date":"2021-04-24T04:01:49","date_gmt":"2021-04-24T04:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=62389"},"modified":"2021-04-24T12:58:15","modified_gmt":"2021-04-24T12:58:15","slug":"johns-warns-cowboys-of-chasing-dearden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=62389","title":{"rendered":"Johns warns Cowboys of chasing Dearden"},"content":{"rendered":"

Legendary halfback Andrew Johns has warned the North Queensland Cowboys against making a play for prodigious Brisbane Broncos playmaker Tom Dearden<\/a> to partner Chad Townsend in the halves.<\/p>\n

There's now more clarity around the make-up of the Cowboys' 2022 halves paring after the club signed veteran Cronulla Sharks halfback Townsend on a three-year deal<\/a>, but who the 2016 NRL premiership-winner partners in the halves remains a mystery<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

New North Queensland coach Todd Payten could opt for incumbent halfback Scott Drinkwater, lure South Sydney Rabbitohs No.7 Adam Reynolds<\/a> or poach Dearden.<\/p>\n

But Johns says Townsend and Dearden are too similar to be able to thrive as a halves combination in the post-Michael Morgan era<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Immortal<\/p>\n

"I don't think they go together at all. I think they're too similar players," Johns said on Wide World of Sports' Immortal Behaviour<\/em>.<\/p>\n

"When you talk about halves combinations, there's got to be the yin and the yang. And the best example of that is Nathan Cleary and (Jarome) Luai. <\/p>\n

"You've got Nathan, who is prepared and the game manager and plays the percentages, and then you've got the other hand: the extroverted risk-taker who just plays and doesn't think and is just a ball of energy – and that's why they go good together. So you need that alter ego and that yin and yang. I think they're too similar players.<\/p>\n

"And I think from the defensive point of view … they'd have two targets going at them from either side of the field.<\/p>\n

"So for me it's Townsend and Drinkwater."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dearden is contracted to Brisbane until the end of this year and the challenge in front of him at this stage is leading the Broncos' 2021 revival.<\/p>\n

Kevin Walters' men were phenomenal against hot premiership favourites the Penrith Panthers in round six, leading at half-time and eventually losing by just eight points.<\/p>\n

But they were then pummeled 46-6 by the Parramatta Eels<\/a> last night, prompting a passionate Walters address in the sheds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The five-time Broncos premiership-winner held up the Brisbane jersey and implored his troops to play with more pride for the jumper.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Legendary halfback Andrew Johns has warned the North Queensland Cowboys against making a play for prodigious Brisbane Broncos playmaker Tom Dearden to partner Chad Townsend […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62389"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62389"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62391,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62389\/revisions\/62391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}