"Tom would have stayed at the Broncos for life but they have done nothing but kick him from pillar to post," Ayoub told The Courier Mail.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
"I read somewhere that the Broncos didn't want to get into a bidding war with the Cowboys for Tom's services.<\/p>\n
"You can't be in a bidding war if you don't make a player an offer \u2014 and the Broncos never made him an offer<\/a>.<\/p>\n "I spoke to Pete Nolan (Broncos football-operations chief) and he said he was waiting on 'Kevvie' (Walters) to decide what he wants to do.<\/p>\n "We gave Brisbane every opportunity to retain him. Tom is a loyal kid with country values but in the end the Cowboys, to their credit, were determined to get him."<\/p>\n Dearden was previously involved with the Cowboys' junior development system. He played junior footy in Mackay before moving to the Gold Coast.<\/p>\n Dearden is still just 20 but the Broncos had reportedly lost faith that he could become a transformative player for the club, having had limited success – albeit in a dismal team – since starting his NRL career.<\/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>\u00a0clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"