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Tom Dearden's Kangaroos masterclass exposes huge Broncos mistake amid dramas around Ezra Mam

Brisbane Broncos fans would have been watching the Pacific Championships final in frustration.

sam goodwin
Sports Editor
·4-min read

If it wasn't already official, Tom Dearden's man of the match performance in the Pacific Championships final on Sunday was the final nail in the coffin for the Brisbane Broncos, and confirmation they made a huge mistake in letting him go. And it would be all the more frustrating for Broncos fans considering the situation with Ezra Mam.

Dearden produced a masterclass at five-eighth as the Kangaroos beat Tonga 20-14 to win the Pacific Championships, stamping himself as a star of the game. The 23-year-old had three line-breaks and three try-assists, running for 146 metres in one of the finest games of his young career.

Ezra Mam and Tom Dearden.
Tom Dearden's (R) masterclass would have been frustrating for Broncos fans, especially in light of the Ezra Mam (L) situation. Image: Getty

He completely outshone halfback Mitchell Moses and showed why he'll be a star of the game for the next decade. In doing so, he made a complete mockery of the Broncos' decision to dump him in 2021 as a 20-year-old.

Dearden made his first-grade debut at age 18 for the Broncos, but endured a stop-start beginning to his career and never managed to nail down his place in the NRL. In 2021 the Broncos allowed him to walk to the North Queensland Cowboys, opting to prioritise players like Brodie Croft, Anthony Milford and Tyson Gamble instead.

Milford's million-dollar per-season contract will go down as one of the worst in NRL history, and all three of him, Croft and Gamble have since left the Broncos. Dearden is now the captain of the Cowboys, as well as a State of Origin star for Queensland and match-winning five-eighth for Australia.

Tom Dearden at the Brisbane Broncos in 2019.
The Broncos had Tom Dearden but let him go in 2021. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
Dylan Edwards and Tom Trbojevic, pictured here celebrating with Tom Dearden after a Kangaroos try.
Dylan Edwards and Tom Trbojevic celebrate with Tom Dearden after a Kangaroos try in the Pacific Championships final. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

As it stands, the Broncos are stuck with 34-year-old halfback Adam Reynolds and soon to be suspended five-eighth Mam. The 21-year-old Mam is facing a lengthy ban after he was involved in a traffic collision last month that left a four-year-old girl with a fractured hip. Mam allegedly failed a roadside drug test and was unlicensed at the time, and won't be part of the Broncos team that begins the 2025 season.

Instead of having Dearden as the cornerstone of their club for the next decade, they're considering bringing 34-year-old Ben Hunt back to plug the gap that Mam's suspension will leave. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but allowing Dearden to leave will go down as one of the biggest retention blunders in Broncos history.

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If it weren't for injuries to Nathan Cleary and Cameron Munster, Cowboys skipper Dearden might not have played much of a part in the Pacific Championships at all. But his man-of-the-match performance against Tonga has now given Mal Meninga a major headache as he looks ahead to next year's Ashes series against England.

"His confidence has grown over three games, and his belief that he belongs in this arena," coach Meninga said after Sunday's final. "He belongs in that No. 6 jersey and he was outstanding today. But it's all around Tom, believing in Tom and once he gets that on a regular basis, he's going to be a terrific player. Sometimes it takes players a while to believe that they belong in this environment."