Mitchell Pearce

[Kingbilly]

Who is defending in the middle not the assigned 2nd rower that defends with Lockyer.
It used to be Toni Carroll and now its Thaiwhingeday

[Guest]

PLease guys, No fair dinkum footy fan can bag Sowards one on one defence after pearces, dozen missed tackles esp the rag doll attempt on Talanoa that almost cost the game.

[The Pelican]

PLease guys, No fair dinkum footy fan can bag Sowards one on one defence after pearces, dozen missed tackles esp the rag doll attempt on Talanoa that almost cost the game.

Are you ****ing serious, Pearce shits over Soward in just about every aspect of the game especially in defence, he had lard ass Taylor, Burgess, Asotasi all 110kg plus running at him all night so he was bound to miss tackles especially after backing up from Wednesday, i can also guarantee that Soward would've missed two if not three times the amount of tackles that Pearce missed.

[Guest]

Are you ****ing serious, Pearce shits over Soward in just about every aspect of the game especially in defence, he had lard ass Taylor, Burgess, Asotasi all 110kg plus running at him all night so he was bound to miss tackles especially after backing up from Wednesday, i can also guarantee that Soward would've missed two if not three times the amount of tackles that Pearce missed.

certainly living up too your name, season stats and missed tackle % would say otherwise.

Im not usually a stat man, that was a woeful attempt to tackle, sorry thats a fact, shit happens sometines

[Guest]

certainly living up too your name, season stats and missed tackle % would say otherwise.

Im not usually a stat man, that was a woeful attempt to tackle, sorry thats a fact, shit happens sometines

Bag Pearce all you want... but he's a tough little bastard. Defends better than most halfbacks going around.

[Guest]

Bag Pearce all you want... but he's a tough little bastard. Defends better than most halfbacks going around.

Not bagging him, trying to prove a point, good halves dont have to be great defenders, If the reason "SOME" on here say Soward cannot play origin because of his defence, they should watch how many times Pearce and co. get brushed off.

Soward gets brushed by Inglis and he is a turnstyle, Pearce gets pushed off by Talanoa and he is a tryer.

It just doesnt add up???

[Chook Norris]

whilst i thoguht Mitch's performance was decent backing up from Origin.. i was a bit disappointed he went missing for that large period during the second half (40-70min~)

A rather important period mind you, we were down then and i thought he needed to stand up

[Guest]

Pearce gets pushed off by Talanoa and he is a tryer.

It just doesnt add up???

That was a bad miss.

He looked rooted in the second half.

Chook.

[Guest]

Not bagging him, trying to prove a point, good halves dont have to be great defenders, If the reason "SOME" on here say Soward cannot play origin because of his defence, they should watch how many times Pearce and co. get brushed off.

Soward gets brushed by Inglis and he is a turnstyle, Pearce gets pushed off by Talanoa and he is a tryer.

It just doesnt add up???

what are you trying to prove, that soward is still comparable to pearce? does anyone still honestly want soward back at our club now that they have seen what a real half/5/8 can do. and if you think that the inglis thing is the only reason soward is considered a crap defender to be kind then you are either misinformed or naive. soward defends on the wing. beau scott plays centre at the dragons to protect him. The fact that scott failed to put gordon over at least 8 times for the blues on wednesday is proof that he is no centre just a forward placed in the backline to protect his half.

pearce is an exceptional defender by anyones standards imo. great tackling technique and has a real go. soward defends like union players - backs away until the last possible second so as to give his cover players enough time to come across and help him. he doesnt tackle he grabs. it all comes down to attitude. the bloke doesnt play well at the top level till uncle benny blows sunshine up his ass like you wouldnt believe and installs a system so intricate that even if he does decide to sit a game out on the wing like he does from time to time, it doesnt really matter. full credit to them it is working but dont be disillusioned by him being a 'great' 5/8 because the system is such that whatever he does is set to make an impact - ie by hanging around the edges, the only times he gets the ball is when there are opportunities - overlaps, quick play the ball and therefore space and a backpeddling defensive line etc. Similarly, dont suddenly think he can defend because beau scott has one job and thats to protect him. will be interesting to see what happens now with gaz back though

[Guest]

Not bagging him, trying to prove a point, good halves dont have to be great defenders, If the reason "SOME" on here say Soward cannot play origin because of his defence, they should watch how many times Pearce and co. get brushed off.

Soward gets brushed by Inglis and he is a turnstyle, Pearce gets pushed off by Talanoa and he is a tryer.

It just doesnt add up???

Soward hides out on the wing. Pearce defends up the middle.

That said, I agree with you... if people are basing their entire opinion of Soward on him missing Inglis, it's stupid. Every player misses tackles, even Fitzy.

Regardless, Soward's defence is not good enough for Origin. We can't afford to have one backrower doing nothing but protecting him out in the centres. We need all the forwards we have, because they've got blokes like Petero, Scott, Shillington etc. who will roll over our pack. They can afford to have a backrower out defending Thurston, or Lockyer, because they have enough muscle elsewhere to comfortably deal with our forward pack.

If Soward were to improve his defence, he'd be very close to an Origin jumper. Same goes for Carney, tbh.

[Headless Chook]

Not bagging him, trying to prove a point, good halves dont have to be great defenders, If the reason "SOME" on here say Soward cannot play origin because of his defence, they should watch how many times Pearce and co. get brushed off.

Soward gets brushed by Inglis and he is a turnstyle, Pearce gets pushed off by Talanoa and he is a tryer.

It just doesnt add up???

Simple reason...one stood in front of the attacker and got brushed aside like a fly, the other came from across field in an attempt to stop a try because his inside defenders (SKD) had shot out of the line, knew he had to come up with a ball and all tackle on a much bigger man running at pace who cut back across the grain to beat the defender. If you can't see the difference, its pointless discussing things further because you obviously have no idea!

[Guest]

Soward gets pushed off in tackles on a weekly basis and often many times a game and often for tries by the opposition. It's not just inglis that does it to him. The most recent time was only last weeby when the tigers backs had a field day pushing him off numerous times for long breaks in the same game, including one try.

Pearce is an excellent defender for a half.

[Headless Chook]

Soward gets pushed off in tackles on a weekly basis and often many times a game and often for tries by the opposition. It's not just inglis that does it to him. The most recent time was only last weeby when the tigers backs had a field day pushing him off numerous times for long breaks in the same game, including one try.

Pearce is an excellent defender for a half.

Spot on. The way he tried to take on Thaiday on Wednesday night was inspirational. He made it his mission to try and shut him down one on one. I could never see Soward doing that.

[The Pelican]

Spot on. The way he tried to take on Thaiday on Wednesday night was inspirational. He made it his mission to try and shut him down one on one. I could never see Soward doing that.

100% correct, at least some people on here actually have some common sense and know what their talking about.

[Guest]

willing to give pearce a break two games within what 48 hours or so would be hard work