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Mitchell Pearce

Howwy

Juniors
Messages
39
Play for play, Pearce was the worst on field. People saying Cronk was sh*t are forgetting three key things he did better than Pearce.
1. Stand up on 2 feet. How many times do you have to fall over before you realise the ground is slippery? If you play at that level you would think he would have a plan for a slippery field. You would think he would have known it would be slippery. Game preparation alone, he isn't up to this level.
2. Kicking game - the commentary raved about that one kick he did to Gagai. Gagai misread the kick and should have know the kick would move away and been in position. He also nearly or did touch it, and the ball luckily pulls up in the in-goal. Cronk performed better finding some space and kicking close to the line or passing, instead of falling over.
3. Passing - You could see it coming, that critical point in the game where Pearce runs across field in a very disjointed manner, doesn't pass until he sees Hayne some distance away. Pushes a pass right to left about 1 metre ahead of Hayne. Hayne's ball handling wasn't great all night.

Hayne at centre was a disaster. Graham was a disaster. Pearce was disaster. We all knew Pearce and Hayne were unlikely to be successful. Hopefully we fix it before G3. It is difficult to understand why Rooster fans are sticking up so hard for Pearce. If he doesn't play SOO, than he is free to play club. At club level he solid. He just seems to choke up at SOO. He's not a representative half.

How Josh Jackson got MoM still has me beat. 67m gained and people are raving about him... And even tackle wise he was not more than Jake T. Who ran twice as far and had a LBA which was critical. I'm not saying Jake should have been MoM, but he if you were going to go a blue, he was far closer.

The biggest issue for NSW is the so called experts in the commentary box and selector panels. They are all useless. Except maybe A Johns, who at least called a sh*t effort, exactly that.


Okay guys, let's cut to the chase.

If the price to cashier Pearce is another series loss, would you be prepared to pay it?
 

OldPanther

Coach
Messages
13,404
Okay guys, let's cut to the chase.

If the price to cashier Pearce is another series loss, would you be prepared to pay it?

Yes. But I wouldn't begrudge him for suddenly becoming the Pearce the NRL media has been selling for the last however many years and winning us a bunch(highly unlikely)
 

Howwy

Juniors
Messages
39
They think he's the best half we have, and they hope he will reproduce his club form on the Origin stage. The trouble is, he hasn't in 17 attempts, yet still they select him, and they will again next year.

Wonder if there's some level of dark muttering in the NSW dressingroom about this, especially where there have been many others go out the revolving door for far less.

Nothing overt mind you - what Roy Masters once called the "omerta of the clubhouse" pretty much ensures players will never give each other up in public - but I for one can't think of anyone else (even Mark Taylor when Aus. were nearly an automatic 1-down for not many) getting so many mulligans at such a high level ...
 

OldPanther

Coach
Messages
13,404
Wonder if there's some level of dark muttering in the NSW dressingroom about this, especially where there have been many others go out the revolving door for far less.

Nothing overt mind you - what Roy Masters once called the "omerta of the clubhouse" pretty much ensures players will never give each other up in public - but I for one can't think of anyone else (even Mark Taylor when Aus. were nearly an automatic 1-down for not many) getting so many mulligans at such a high level ...

It would have to be there on some level. This is the guy you're suppose to look over the dressing to see who will lead you to victory.
 

Howwy

Juniors
Messages
39
They think he's the best half we have, and they hope he will reproduce his club form on the Origin stage. The trouble is, he hasn't in 17 attempts, yet still they select him, and they will again next year.

I guess that leads to the rather larger question of just how it has come to this for NSW - up to and including Joey, there was pretty much a queue of halves like Holman, Summons, Smith, Raudonikis, Pittard, Fulton etc. and about the only one north of the border who got a look-in (pre-Origin) was Barry Muir. Yet with Johns' departure in '05 it's almost as though the spigot has turned off with no-one since looking likely. And no-one seems to be asking why ...
 

SBD82

Coach
Messages
16,905
This week, josh McCrone was dropped as the dragons starting halfback.

A lot of fans were calling for this to happen, but none of us actually believed that Mary would see the light. Regardless of how the change plays out, I will give Mary credit for recognising the need for change and having a shot.

When the NSW team is named after this weekend I'm hoping for Daley to have his "Mary moment". Again, regardless of the outcome, I will look more kindly on Daley, knowing that he had a crack and did what was best for the team and the state.
 

Howwy

Juniors
Messages
39
This week, josh McCrone was dropped as the dragons starting halfback.

A lot of fans were calling for this to happen, but none of us actually believed that Mary would see the light. Regardless of how the change plays out, I will give Mary credit for recognising the need for change and having a shot.

When the NSW team is named after this weekend I'm hoping for Daley to have his "Mary moment". Again, regardless of the outcome, I will look more kindly on Daley, knowing that he had a crack and did what was best for the team and the state.

That's asking a heck of a lot from someone who's repeatedly - and publicly - nailed his colours to the Pearce mast. One might say anyone would be better, or at least no worse but then the larger question is how has it come to this for NSW who never used to lack for quality playmakers. Maybe the coaching has become too formulaic and systematized ??

... and where did this "Mary" moniker come from ?
 

SBD82

Coach
Messages
16,905
That's asking a heck of a lot from someone who's repeatedly - and publicly - nailed his colours to the Pearce mast. One might say anyone would be better, or at least no worse but then the larger question is how has it come to this for NSW who never used to lack for quality playmakers. Maybe the coaching has become too formulaic and systematized ??

... and where did this "Mary" moniker come from ?
I fully acknowledge that it's not going to happen. My comment was tongue in cheek.

As for Mary? I've heard a bunch of guesses about how McGregor got his nickname. But I've never heard the definitive reason. It's a name that's at least as old as his playing days with the steelers.
 
Messages
2,211
R-2573214-1291131635.jpeg.jpg
 

OldPanther

Coach
Messages
13,404
Today was a club game which is irrelevant to origin discussions.... apparently.

Well to be fair I doubt he has too many games that bad for the Roosters. If he could just replicate his club form for NSW he'd be a state hero. I really wonder if there is pressure with who is father is that gets to him.
 

myrrh ken

First Grade
Messages
9,817
So what I get from the below articles is:
1. He still needs to be told he has to demand the ball
2. He didn't really take Joey's message to heart.
3. Even Sterlo recognises that a lot of faith has been invested in Pearce and he hasn't lived up to it thus far.


State of Origin 2017: Peter Sterling tells Mitchell Pearce to make his voice heard

Blues adviser Peter Sterling has implored Mitchell Pearce to make himself heard if NSW's plans threaten to fly off course again in the Origin decider, telling the halfback at training on Wednesday it fell on his shoulders to be the team's reassuring voice.

NSW lost their way in the final 20 minutes of Origin II, surrendering the lead and the momentum as Queensland pounced to level the series.

Sterling, Laurie Daley's right-hand man, joined the Blues as they began training for game three near their Kingscliff base on Wednesday and spoke to Pearce.

The Blues had asked media to leave their training venue by then and watch proceedings from behind the hessian material they have set up around the boutique Cudgen Rugby League Club ground. That was despite at least 100 members of the public remaining to watch on.

"They're looking for a reassuring voice, they want a confident voice and the number on his back says that he needs to be that. I don't know how much of that was there, but we just sort of said if things aren't going the way we need to be going, our big blokes who are tired they need to hear your voice.

"He just needs to settle the situation down and make sure we're on the same page. If we're going to learn lessons out of game two, that's one of them, and he'll take that on board. He's in a good head space now."

Pearce spoke on Wednesday about how NSW needed to "hunt the game" more and told of his post-game discussion with Andrew Johns after the Immortal had branded the Blues second-half display in Sydney "the dumbest half of football NSW have played".

As the on-field general the natural inclination would be for Pearce to feel Johns was at least in part referring to his performance.

"I spoke to Joey after the game and he had his point of view and different things he thought," Pearce said. "Myself and other people had their points of view about where we went wrong. At the end of the day, Joey was right ... we did play a bit dumb.

"I have absolute respect – he is an Immortal of the game. I hate even talking about it because there is no beef there. He is a good mate of mine. There is no dramas at all.

"Joey is just a passionate NSW fan, he is a commentator and he saw it how he saw it. Hopefully this week he is yahooing and pumping us after a win. I didn't take it too much to heart."

So often identified as a scapegoat in losing Blues campaigns, next week's blockbuster shapes as the opportunity of a lifetime for Pearce to send a definitive message to the doubters after all he has been through.

"He's aware of all that," Sterling said. "It doesn't consume him, but I think deep down he realises what an important night for him Wednesday night could be.

"He'll get a lot of people off his back. I've never spoken to him about it, but I'd imagine it will be exactly the case ... almost some justification there for the faith that's been shown in him. I'm fair dinkum in the fact that if he plays well, and he's playing in a winning series, it will get a lot of people off his back.

"That was a concern coming into the series as to how much that might be on his mind coming into clutch moments, but we just want him to do what he does for the Roosters and in clutch moments he's been great and if it comes down to it he'll be putting his hand up to do the right thing at the right time."
 

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