Pearce & Origin 2

[PeeGee]

I just read an article written by Kimmorley (like he can friggin talk).

He mentions that game3 is Pearce's last chance to prove he is a half and a 'General'. He also mentions that 'Moylan is the man to take over'.

I jus

[Johnny Tobin]

I just read an article written by Kimmorley (like he can friggin talk).

He mentions that game3 is Pearce's last chance to prove he is a half and a 'General'. He also mentions that 'Moylan is the man to take over'.

I jus

Moylan and Wighton - overrated to Gidley and Mullen proportions.

[roosterchook]

I blame Hayne. At moments we needed composure he tried to play the hero resulting in a bombed try. He's not an NFL player as he's found out and now he needs to learn he's not a Harlem globe trotter either. He wouldn't fit into a rooster team as he's not a team player.

[milanja]

Pearce was no more or less influential than Cronk, he has had two forgettable games, and the luxury of having Thurston and smith on his team have masked a lot of his performances.

[One Eyed Willy]

Pearce was no more or less influential than Cronk, he has had two forgettable games, and the luxury of having Thurston and smith on his team have masked a lot of his performances.

Spot on Milanja
the great Cooper Cronk has struggled big time without his dominant forward pack
Pearce wasn't that bad in the second half. We never had quality football so we couldn't really capitalise. The whole team was poor in the second half

[PeeGee]

nrl

Awkward consequence of Andrew Johns’ NSW rocket







Andrew Johns blows up over NSW's second half tactics









MITCHELL Pearce has never been under the pump like this.



The Roosters halfback has played his entire career with an unfair amount of expectation and criticism on his shoulders, but NSW’s out-of-sorts capitulation in Queensland’s victory in Origin II at ANZ Stadium has once again seen him become the face of a NSW State of Origin defeat.

As The Daily Telegraph’s Paul Crawley pointed out on Thursday: “Mitchell Pearce will head to Suncorp Stadium on July 12 under more pressure than he has ever felt”.

His legacy is on the line in Game 3.

Helping to pile the pressure on the Blues’ on-field commander in chief was Blues legend Andrew Johns, who took an almighty swing at NSW’s game management on Wednesday night, labelling the performance “the dumbest half of football NSW have played”.

The rugby league immortal never once mentioned Pearce during his minute-long rant about the Blues’ blunders when it mattered most — but he didn’t have to.

Johns made special mention of NSW’s failure to target injured Maroons five-eighth Johnathan Thurston.

“It’s the dumbest half of football NSW have played. They had all the running, their game plan was perfect,” Johns told Channel 9.

“Thurston’s shoulder is stuffed — there’s your game plan. You just go at him all night. You go at him and then it puts pressure on the defenders on either side.

“They didn’t go to him once at all in the second half. I couldn’t believe what I was watching.

“You’ve got a player out there who cannot pick his arm up off the ground and they didn’t target his side of the field.

“I don’t know what they were doing.

“They had all the running and they invited Queensland back in and went back to this out the back rubbish block plays.

Andrew Johns unloads on NSW players after the loss.Source:Supplied





“How they didn’t identify that ... he can’t pick his right shoulder up so there’s your game plan.”

Johns’ outburst was on Wednesday morning interpreted by his brother and NSW great Matthew Johns as a shot at Pearce.

Just two days earlier, Joey Johns spoke with glowing praise of Pearce’s resurgent form this season, declaring the 2017 Origin series was “his time” to finally break through for his first series win.

He also declared a Kangaroos Test call-up was Pearce’s to lose with Johnathan Thurston and Cooper Cronk set to give up representative football after the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.

Now Johns is going to have some explaining to do when he meets up with Pearce at the Roosters’ Moore Park headquarters this week.

Johns has been mentoring Pearce as a specialist halves coach at the Roosters and Matthew Johns believes his brother’s outburst is going to cause some grief within the NSW camp.

“He’s right,” Matthew Johns told Triple M’s Grill Team about Joey’s blast of NSW’s decision-makers in Game 2.

“Boy, things might be a bit awkward at training today. Joey, Joey, Joey. NSW, if they’d have played smarter they would have won that game.”

He said it was easy to see the panic set into the NSW team as soon as Queensland got back to within four points when Dane Gagai cut the margin to 16-12 early in the second half.

“The sphincter started to shake a little bit and we came up with some strange plays. We just totally lost our way,” Matthew Johns said.

“When you’re in front on the scoreboard, it’s easy to play nice and relaxed, but then all of a sudden when it was 16-12.”

Win, lose or draw, Mitchell Pearce is the talking point.Source:News Corp Australia





NSW legend Mark Geyer also singled out Pearce for failing to direct NSW to make smarter plays in the second half.

Geyer told Triple M Pearce was a shadow of the star playmaker in the series opener — and he reckons it’s because the sight of Johnathan Thurston absolutely terrifies him.

“There’s something about Mitchell Pearce, watching him in the first game to watching him in the second game last night,” he said.

“I think he’s spooked by Thurston. Mitchell Pearce was our man of the match before he got injured in Game 1. That was the best game he’s played in Origin. Last night I was waiting for him just to do a little bit more. He had a very good first half, like a lot of our players.

“You could see their bums clench in the second half.”

Thurston is credited for delivering a famous Origin sledge to Pearce during the 2015 Origin series when he told his NSW rival to get a picture outside Suncorp Stadium with the Origin Shield-wielding Wally Lewis statue “because that’s the closest you’ll get to the trophy”.

Pearce has so far lost all six Origin series he has been involved in.

It is truly unfair to tie his legacy to the fortunes of a NSW team which has been forced to confront arguably the greatest Origin team ever assembled in the Cameron Smith led Maroons, but Joey’s bake on Wednesday night highlighted NSW’s greatest inferiority to Queensland is game management.

As halfback, that’s Pearce’s responsibility — and, despite Pearce being among the Blues’ best this series, there can be no denying NSW dropped the ball in the second half of Game 2 when the game was there to be won.

Rightly or wrongly, Game 3 is Pearce’s last chance.

[King Salvo]

As Big Jack Gibson would often say you don't have time for a committee meeting out there- people can blame Pearce saying as the game manager he should have done this and that but well the buck stops with the coach - Daley would have seen what was happening and should have told the trainers what they should be doing as they are on the field often enough. Easy for people to criticize when they are not out there and never will be though. I don't take much notice of fans or ex players myself as well fans don't play the game and never have at any level to judge others and ex players played too long ago for most to remember them.

[King Salvo]

nrl



Awkward consequence of Andrew Johns’ NSW rocket









Andrew Johns blows up over NSW's second half tactics










MITCHELL Pearce has never been under the pump like this.



The Roosters halfback has played his entire career with an unfair amount of expectation and criticism on his shoulders, but NSW’s out-of-sorts capitulation in Queensland’s victory in Origin II at ANZ Stadium has once again seen him become the face of a NSW State of Origin defeat.

As The Daily Telegraph’s Paul Crawley pointed out on Thursday: “Mitchell Pearce will head to Suncorp Stadium on July 12 under more pressure than he has ever felt”.

His legacy is on the line in Game 3.

Helping to pile the pressure on the Blues’ on-field commander in chief was Blues legend Andrew Johns, who took an almighty swing at NSW’s game management on Wednesday night, labelling the performance “the dumbest half of football NSW have played”.

The rugby league immortal never once mentioned Pearce during his minute-long rant about the Blues’ blunders when it mattered most — but he didn’t have to.

Johns made special mention of NSW’s failure to target injured Maroons five-eighth Johnathan Thurston.

“It’s the dumbest half of football NSW have played. They had all the running, their game plan was perfect,” Johns told Channel 9.

“Thurston’s shoulder is stuffed — there’s your game plan. You just go at him all night. You go at him and then it puts pressure on the defenders on either side.

“They didn’t go to him once at all in the second half. I couldn’t believe what I was watching.

“You’ve got a player out there who cannot pick his arm up off the ground and they didn’t target his side of the field.

“I don’t know what they were doing.

“They had all the running and they invited Queensland back in and went back to this out the back rubbish block plays.

Andrew Johns unloads on NSW players after the loss.Source:Supplied





“How they didn’t identify that ... he can’t pick his right shoulder up so there’s your game plan.”

Johns’ outburst was on Wednesday morning interpreted by his brother and NSW great Matthew Johns as a shot at Pearce.

Just two days earlier, Joey Johns spoke with glowing praise of Pearce’s resurgent form this season, declaring the 2017 Origin series was “his time” to finally break through for his first series win.

He also declared a Kangaroos Test call-up was Pearce’s to lose with Johnathan Thurston and Cooper Cronk set to give up representative football after the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.

Now Johns is going to have some explaining to do when he meets up with Pearce at the Roosters’ Moore Park headquarters this week.

Johns has been mentoring Pearce as a specialist halves coach at the Roosters and Matthew Johns believes his brother’s outburst is going to cause some grief within the NSW camp.

“He’s right,” Matthew Johns told Triple M’s Grill Team about Joey’s blast of NSW’s decision-makers in Game 2.

“Boy, things might be a bit awkward at training today. Joey, Joey, Joey. NSW, if they’d have played smarter they would have won that game.”

He said it was easy to see the panic set into the NSW team as soon as Queensland got back to within four points when Dane Gagai cut the margin to 16-12 early in the second half.

“The sphincter started to shake a little bit and we came up with some strange plays. We just totally lost our way,” Matthew Johns said.

“When you’re in front on the scoreboard, it’s easy to play nice and relaxed, but then all of a sudden when it was 16-12.”

Win, lose or draw, Mitchell Pearce is the talking point.Source:News Corp Australia





NSW legend Mark Geyer also singled out Pearce for failing to direct NSW to make smarter plays in the second half.

Geyer told Triple M Pearce was a shadow of the star playmaker in the series opener — and he reckons it’s because the sight of Johnathan Thurston absolutely terrifies him.

“There’s something about Mitchell Pearce, watching him in the first game to watching him in the second game last night,” he said.

“I think he’s spooked by Thurston. Mitchell Pearce was our man of the match before he got injured in Game 1. That was the best game he’s played in Origin. Last night I was waiting for him just to do a little bit more. He had a very good first half, like a lot of our players.

“You could see their bums clench in the second half.”

Thurston is credited for delivering a famous Origin sledge to Pearce during the 2015 Origin series when he told his NSW rival to get a picture outside Suncorp Stadium with the Origin Shield-wielding Wally Lewis statue “because that’s the closest you’ll get to the trophy”.

Pearce has so far lost all six Origin series he has been involved in.

It is truly unfair to tie his legacy to the fortunes of a NSW team which has been forced to confront arguably the greatest Origin team ever assembled in the Cameron Smith led Maroons, but Joey’s bake on Wednesday night highlighted NSW’s greatest inferiority to Queensland is game management.

As halfback, that’s Pearce’s responsibility — and, despite Pearce being among the Blues’ best this series, there can be no denying NSW dropped the ball in the second half of Game 2 when the game was there to be won.

Rightly or wrongly, Game 3 is Pearce’s last chance.

cannot target one player though - Roosters were criticised in 2000 GF for not targetting Webke who was playing the GF with a broken arm for an example-Players can be hidden on the field in defence for an example as Thurston was in the second half -defended on the wing many times out of the defence main area so he would not be targeted.

[Rooster_6]

Pearce absolutely needs to be held responsible for our second half in Game 2. He has been picked as our halfback and chief organiser and the direction of our attack was poor. It's not like he was playing direct and other players were over riding him, he was most definitely part of the problem.

He was brilliant in game 1 though, our attack was direct, fast and relentlessly consistent and he was the leader of that.

The problem with the critics is it's not proportionate or consistent. Yeh Pearce was most definitely poor but where was the equally huge praise for his organisation of the side after Game 1? Where has the discussion on Qld's poor direction for 3 out of the 4 halves of footy this year been?

There's no balance to the discussion because let's face it who is going to question the analysis on Mitchell Pearce? Make the same comments about Cronk and Smith's performances and see what happens..

[PeeGee]

Yeah, great points R6

[Jacks Fur Coat]

For Mitch..

A quote from Basketball legend Michael Jordan.

"I've missed more than good shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed".

[The ticket]

For Mitch..

A quote from Basketball legend Michael Jordan.

"I've missed more than good shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed".

You know Jack, i think ths is why i remain a staunch fan of Pearce - he is not the best footballer i have seen by a long shot but he may just be the most resilient. If he does go on to thrive in the last half dozen years of his career as many predict, it will be purely down to his resilience. Most would be smashed about by the continual barrage Pearce cops but he just keeps turning up with maximum effort and shutting out the noise. I admire that greatly.