WARRINGTON Wolves have confirmed the departure of academy graduate half-back Riley Dean.

The club have announced the ending of Dean's time at The Halliwell Jones Stadium in order to move to Australia, where it is believed he will join NRL side North Queensland Cowboys.

The 22-year-old was contracted to The Wire until the end of the coming season, but he came to a mutual agreement with the club to end his deal early.

It marks the end of a somewhat nomadic spell in Warrington for former Siddal junior Dean, who spent long periods away from the club on loan having come through the club's academy.

After making his first-team debut for Wolves in 2019 in a 30-12 loss to St Helens, the half-back spent time on loan at York City Knights, Dewsbury Rams and Newcastle Thunder over the next three seasons.

During that time, he also squeezed in eight first-team appearances for his parent club, six of which came during the 2022 season when he threatened to make a sustained first-team breakthrough.

However, he played just once for The Wire in 2023, starting at stand-off in the defeat at Leigh Leopards in May in between loan spells at Featherstone Rovers and Castleford Tigers.

While first-choice half-backs George Williams and Josh Drinkwater had spells out of the team through injury at different points, former head coach Daryl Powell often opted to play the likes of Peter Mata'utia, Stefan Ratchford, Matt Dufty and Danny Walker out of position while fellow youngster Leon Hayes also featured towards the end of the campaign.