best nsw form halfback in the competition this season by far, did you see the stats on halves combos last night, him and maloney are blowing the competition away with their try assists this season.
but still irrelevant because i've given facts to go back to the forwards being the reason we lost and your response is no i still don't think so. so you've said enough right there
Your stats didn't prove anything.
I chose to avoid that argument because this is how i saw it playing out:
Me: what do those stats prove? Territory and ball possession are the job of an entire team. When the QLD team was struggling and NSW were making metres down the ruck, their halves kicked them out of trouble.
When we were dominating field position and possession we should have put three tries on minimum. But we didn't because Pearce and hodkinson couldn't get us repeat sets. If they had done so possession in the first half would have been more like 60:40.
When the QLD side had the upper hand in the second half they were able to sustain pressure on us because their halves (mainly Cronk) directed things really well. When we had an opportunity to kick our way out of trouble through a relieving penalty our halves failed us again. Our forwards' heads went down.
Then you would say: yes but you can't blame Pearce for that. He wasn't supposed to control the game. Hodkinson was supposed to do that and failed.
And I would say: So what was the point of picking him in the first place? Why is he there? What is he supposed to do for our NSW team and what did he to to justify his ongoing selection?
And then you would point out his club form. Again. Which I don't dispute. But it's not the point now is it? I just thought I would save us some time.
Pearce does not do anything at origin level consistently well. And never has. This game was not an anomaly.
