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The Pearce Problem

Phil McGrawhan

Phil McGrawhan

Coach
Messages
15,698
I don't think it can really be called the PEARCE PROBLEM anymore .
It's more the Laurie Daley HARD ON For PEARCE problem .

Most RL fans except the blinkered Rooter fans can see that Mythcell is just not up to rep standard .
But that means little when the coach has a hard on for PEARCE .
 
I

Irish

Juniors
Messages
14
In some ways, Pearce is not the cause of the problem, he is the symptom.

The problem being, who exactly do you replace him with? Every other selection will be met with howls of derision, not just from here, but in the RL world at large. There is no standout or unifying player in the halves right now for NSW.

As a largely neutral watcher, I honestly didn't think Pearce played that poorly. Did he excel? No. But people pointing at that second stanza, just cast your mind back 12 months ago to Game 2, because there was a lot of similarities. QLD with a shed load of possession, hammering away at the line, gritty defence keeping them out, taking their chance when they got down to the other end. I honestly don't think the halves from last year were in any way better, just the result went with them.

QLD won this game in spite of NSW players, not because of them.
 
DiegoNT

DiegoNT

First Grade
Messages
9,378
Irish said:
In some ways, Pearce is not the cause of the problem, he is the symptom.

The problem being, who exactly do you replace him with? Every other selection will be met with howls of derision, not just from here, but in the RL world at large. There is no standout or unifying player in the halves right now for NSW.

As a largely neutral watcher, I honestly didn't think Pearce played that poorly. Did he excel? No. But people pointing at that second stanza, just cast your mind back 12 months ago to Game 2, because there was a lot of similarities. QLD with a shed load of possession, hammering away at the line, gritty defence keeping them out, taking their chance when they got down to the other end. I honestly don't think the halves from last year were in any way better, just the result went with them.

QLD won this game in spite of NSW players, not because of them.
Click to expand...

The 'Pearce problem' that I put in the title is this, after 12 previous origins were he has never once looked like he was a capable of playing at this level, what would happen if he again showed nothing and new south Wales lost. Would we again give him yet another chance or would we finally give someone else a chance to prove themselves despite it being a sudden death game. Well sure enough he again failed to fire, but now we are picking him again giving him yet another chance to prove himself. We use the excuse that who else can we go to, but after 13 chances surely someone else deserves a chance. Soward, maloney and Josh reynolds were ok in their brief time, maybe they'll be ready to take the next step, but none of them had 13 games to prove themselves. Maybe guys like Austin and adam Reynolds would shine. Even a guy like hodkinson is almost on the origin scrap heap after 4 games, why isn't he given 13 chances?

'Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result' - Albert Einstein

picking Pearce continuely is literally insanity according to Einstein and I'm sure no one on here is as smart as him
 
THE CHAMP

THE CHAMP

First Grade
Messages
8,363
SBD82 said:
The loss was not all Pearce's fault. Another straw man argument.

Perhaps with your keen intellect and ability to analyze and break down the game of rugby league you will be able to answer the question that the other Pearce defenders on this forum can't.

What has Pearce done consistently well in origin?
Click to expand...

The answer to your question is tackle.
That's the one thing I can't think off
He hasn't had to worry about thaiday this series as well.
That had to take a lot out of the poor barstard in other series
 
B

big hit!

Bench
Messages
3,452
Irish said:
In some ways, Pearce is not the cause of the problem, he is the symptom.

The problem being, who exactly do you replace him with? Every other selection will be met with howls of derision, not just from here, but in the RL world at large. There is no standout or unifying player in the halves right now for NSW.

As a largely neutral watcher, I honestly didn't think Pearce played that poorly. Did he excel? No. But people pointing at that second stanza, just cast your mind back 12 months ago to Game 2, because there was a lot of similarities. QLD with a shed load of possession, hammering away at the line, gritty defence keeping them out, taking their chance when they got down to the other end. I honestly don't think the halves from last year were in any way better, just the result went with them.

QLD won this game in spite of NSW players, not because of them.
Click to expand...

don't let objectivity get in the way of a Pearce bashing.

I'm a Souths supporter, and Pearce's voice annoys the hell out of me, but when you stand back and see the lay of the land for NSW halves over several years now since Johns retired and it has been as as you have described. He is consistently the one who is fit and/or maintaining a standard at club level. all the others have some form for a few weeks or a season and just stink it up the next like Hodkinson and JReynolds are doing now, or they get injured when on the cusp. Wayne's like his father in terms of fitness.....damn f**king resilient.

So many variables came into play last season. Hayne finally played in the position he is most potent and was the attacking lynch pin while the halves just managed, Cronk getting injured in Game 1 and DCE selected for Game 2 but not taking any reps at training due to his own injury issues, the NSW forwards contributing more evenly with Daley doing a good job rotating the middle including Bird and Gallen when they'd be left on for a whole game in previous series, etc. It's not a merley a case of Pearce not selected so NSW win.
 
B

big hit!

Bench
Messages
3,452
RecordBreakingMaroons. said:
He will forever remain unique and with all of the selection that he has garnered over many years, he will enter into the ranks of the most selected Blues players of his position.

The question remains: WHY??
Click to expand...

QLD kids obviously spend more time playing footy in the playground than learning how to comprehend. Explains why they grow up to be decent footballers but shit dumb.

Irish and I touched on it on this very page.
 
S

SBD82

Coach
Messages
18,003
RecordBreakingMaroons. said:
Hitler reacts to Mitchell Pearce being selected for NSW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrvbXarRdBk
Click to expand...

This is so close to my reaction it's actually eerie.

I was asked last night who I would pick ahead of Pearce. My response now is... Anyone. Anyone at all. Give the jersey to Luke Lewis. Let tony Williams play half. Give it to a Harold Mathews halfback. Bruce Jenner anyone?

Even if we put an NYC halfback in and waited 4 years for him to learn the game we would still have a better strategy than picking Pearce year after year.

True blue died in the wool one eyed two headed QLD fans are even taking pity on us. They're the worst people in the world and they hate us so much and they still are magnanimous enough to let us know that Pearce is terrible.
 
DiegoNT

DiegoNT

First Grade
Messages
9,378
So do we start fresh or do we hope he comes good in his seventh series?
Do we pick another half and hope he unlocks the key to mitchell performing?

The mitchell defenders will tell you the loss last night was not mitchell's fault and that is true. He had a bad game but so did the rest of the team, our forwards were dominated, the calls went QLD's way and most importantly Queensland were simply brilliant and ruthless.
The simple fact is his had 14 games without truly shining once. When nsw are bad his diabolical, when nsw and qld are evenly matched his bad, and when nsw are going great he is merely average. The fact that his game 1, a game that would be an average performance for any rep half, was described as his best origin ever says a lot. He's had more games then almost every other nsw halfback without ever having a standout moment. Guys like sterling, Mortimer, Stuart etc have all had numerous standout moments without playing as many games as mitchell. Even halves like hodkinson and finch have had their moment, heck even Shaun Timmins, a centre/backrower has had one of those moments, but in 14 origins pearce hasn't come close.
 
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