North Queensland Cowboys halfback Tom Dearden is not ready to return yet, despite being named on the reserves list for this Sunday's clash with the Manly Sea Eagles.
Dearden had originally been due to return in time for a chance to play in State of Origin 3, however, delays in his recovery kicked his return down the road to this weekend.
Ultimately, he missed that timeline too, with Dearden only named in the reserves.
Coach Todd Payten, speaking ahead of Sunday's game against the Sea Eagles, confirmed on Friday that Dearden was out, but was only a couple of training sessions away from being ready to play again. His return is now likely to come next weekend, in what will be a blockbuster clash against the high-flying Dolphins.
“Tom is not fit to play this weekend, he's probably two full training sessions short of being right to play,” Payten said on Friday, from Townsville.
“He's got plenty of volume in his legs but he hasn't done enough footy-specific work with the team – change of direction, tackling, all that sort of stuff. So he'll get a full week of training next week and the plan's to play against the Dolphins.
“It's just not quite right, and as we do, we put the player's welfare front of our thinking and given his importance to the team it's just a risk, a small risk, to play him with the amount of training he's done.”
The Cowboys started well without Dearden, although have now lost three of their last four games and there is no doubt Dearden will return into the halves alongside Jake Clifford once fit.
In the meantime, Jaxon Purdue will have another run at number six this weekend as the Cowboys head to Brookvale for what has become a critical clash on the run home for both sides as finals implications start to become a very real thing.
Purdue was playing in the centres early in the season, and wasn't the first replacement for Dearden with Liam Sutton handed an opportunity early on in his recovery.
Manly will be close to full strength on Sunday, with Tolutau Koula and Haumole Olakau'atu expected to play, while Joey Walsh will play at five-eighth in place of Luke Brooks who will miss the remainder of the year with an ACL injury.
