MITCHELL PEARCE GAME 3: - Failed cover the hole that was created when Valentine Holmes cut back on the inside - Threw a stupid ball to Cordner causing a knock on in prime position at the beginning of the game - Threw a terrible ball which almost led to a Tim Glasby try had it not been for Maloney - Runs out of the line and creates space for Munster to set up Holmes for try number 2 - Almost threw an intercept ball for Morgan to score - Throws a terrible cut out pass which led to Fifita knocking on After Thurston got ruled out looks like he really stepped for Queensland. In all honestly they should make a statue outside Suncorp of him next to the Wally Lewis one, he is without doubt one of the greatest Queenslanders ever.
That certainly didn't help, especially when so many of our errors came just as we were getting into a decent attacking position. Pearce had a legitimately bad game in 2013 in the decider. The infamous murdered overlap game. That was unquestionably a terrible game and I'd have been happy for his papers to have been stamped then like Kimmorley's were after the intercept in 2005. Since then I don't think he has had a particularly poor showing in origin. He's never had a MoM performance either (neither has any other NSW half, for that matter). Essentially his biggest crime in the 2015 and 2017 series is that he has been mediocre (again, just like his halves partners Maloney and Hodkinson). Either way, its time for him to be moved on. I don't particularly think there is anyone else who'll do a better job, but might as well try and find out.
Moylan or Bird at 6 with Maloney at 7 and the other of Moylan or Bird on the bench. That is a far superior combination of playmakers with creativity and vision. Unlike blinkers Pearce.
Bird is not a play maker. Frankly I think he is quite overrated and will struggle if ever thrown into that role full time. Moylan and Maloney would be my pick, but if our pack continues to be dominated with peaheart props then they'll also struggle to make anything happen. Thankfully when it happens to them people will actually recognise the difficulty of trying to create behind a well beaten pack and won't dump all the blame on their shoulders, pearce blinkers work both ways like that.
The funny thing is he probably would, but I honestly doubt that any coach taking over from next year would bother risking their job on picking him again. Whoever is coaching next year will guarantee themselves 2 series in the gig if they make the simple call to axe Pearce. 2018 will be a write off as "the news half is learning". You then use 2019 to cut out some more dead wood and you've got yourself an easy 3 years earning $300-400K for 8 weeks of work per year.
Oh piss off with your revisionist history. You've been backing piss all series. Piss was not mediocre. He was downright shit especially in game 2 and 3. He did not create any tries and I can't remember any positive contribution he made. He did make errors which squandered possession and led to tries. Don't make him out to be some hard done by victim HodKo won us the series and Maloney has plenty of line breaks and try assists
"plenty" of try assists being 2 for the series, which is pretty well balanced out by the 2 tries Pearce scored himself wouldn't you say? Maloney has also missed conversions which ultimately cost us 2 series (the decider in 2013, game 2 2017) since we lost each of those games off the back of goalkicking i.e. each team scored the same amount of tries. I've already stated countless times Pearce should never play again, and that I'd have been happy for him to not play another origin after 2013. I can still see however that his halves partners over the years have also been f**king terrible in their own right.
You don't clock up a highlight reel like this without being outright terrible. Being a passenger is one thing but being shit all other times just takes the Piss, Mitchell that is.
Guys someone needs to update that highlight reel after his heroics this year and 2015. Make sure that brilliant pierce of play in game 1 2015 where he overcalled Hokko when he was set for the drop goal which would have won it isn't left out.
Selective reading mate. Plenty of line breaks and try assists is what I said. You've only changed your tune after this game so don't talk about 2013. That's dishonest. You were advocating piss and Moylan as the future previously You're right about the Pearce tries. Yeah he was in the right position for those so kudos to him for that. Still not enough though. Maloney has made plenty of mistakes, but he also creates. Chopping him for his goal kicking is a bit rough. Not his fault he's the only goal kicker.
Rubbish. I've not wanted Pearce to play origin for years, not least of all because of the mental toll being the poster child for a team that was simply outclassed across the park for a decade has had on him. We've had several seasons derailed by Pearce copping it for origin losses in the past (2013 being the outlier), so I've always been happy for him to not play wherever possible. I'll happily state though that there has been few if any better options in the years that Pearce played. The only consistent opposition he has had is Adam Reynolds from 2013-2015 (Reynolds absolutely should have been the halfback in 2014). Moylan could have been selected this year also and I wouldn't have minded, but his club form hardly warranted it. It's not Pearce's fault that he has been a consistently good club halfback for years while all other NSW eligible halves have been hot and cold at best or just outright rubbish at worst. The generation of NSW halves that have debuted in the last decade is honestly quite terrible, and the next generation ain't exactly setting the world on fire either.
Well you've certainly defended him vigorously at times. Look it's not his fault he keeps getting selected and the media continues to be obsessed. Which is the source of frustration. I agree Reynolds is a good candidate and has sharp goal kicking to boot. Otherwise give someone else a go. They can't be worse and they might be infinitely better. I've gone off Pearce at 9. Passing under pressure is not good at this level.
Like I've said before, changing from the Moylan/Maloney combo that worked is the most NSW move of all time. Piss should man up and do a Jamie Lyon. This level is beyond him
Adam Reynolds can tackle, pass and bomb overlaps just like Pearce but has a better kicking game and is the best goal kicker yet he was given 2 games? Moylan won his only game in the halves albeit a dead rubber and was dropped for this myth no less, all these dinosaurs giving him 18 chances because his dads in the old boys club.
Well we all certainly and sincerely hope he'll be back next year, he's got a few good years in him yet.