Mitchell Pearce.........On a Serious Note

[PeeGee]

OK I'm not trying to go over a well worn subject, even though it seems I am.

But I am curious as to what you footy brains' opinions are re. Pearce on a serious note. I think there are some really cluey experienced footy minds on this forum and I'd really like to know what you guys think is truly the case with our No. 7. MITCHELL PEARCE plays and bleeds RW&B. We are his Fans, WE SHOULD BE SUPPORTING HIM. If not then are you guys happy to keep him given his current form.

Obviously, he gets bagged a lot more than appreciated.

Crap aside, emotions aside, i'm concerned about Pearce going forward in 2017 but more so 2018.

When I go watch the roosters play, and try NOT to watch origin, Re. Pearce, I see a guy busting a gut for his team, club, and by association, US, THE FANS.

WTF is FACT? He is definitely down on form after SOO this year. He has not been the same player since. BUT even during ORIGIN he was being blamed for the teams loss.

I reckon he's still got at least 5 good years left in him. BUT WHY NO MATTER WHAT, does he get hammered so much, mostly by us who should be backing him. He SHOULD be our best player. Personally, I think we'd be a mess without him.

What do you guys really think?
a) Has he peaked, with no improvement left.
b) Is it a confidence thing? That's what I think anyway.
c) If he's going missing, then WTF is he doing in meantime?
d) Do we look at keeping him.
e) Do we look at off-loading him.

I get really concerned when I see him making defensive errors as he did yesterday. Defense is normally what he did/does best.

I'd really appreciate your thoughts and/or any insight.

Cheers guys.

[The Axe]

I still think guerra misread the 2nd try and the pass from brooks was top shelf and would have beaten 90% of defences

[Bondicigar]

the roosters are a lesser side without him. Thats proven , when hes hot hes hot when hes not hes not. Still in top 5 halfbacks in the game. I say keep him

[Maxy Walker]

OK I'm not trying to go over a well worn subject

Coulda fooled me

[Chooky Chookerson]

I am a fan of his. But he does obviously have limitations. Mainly his creativity and his short kicking game. I do believe though, that his short kicking game has improved this year.

[Bigchook]

Pretty much every half at every club bar Melbourne gets bagged by their fans.

[Rooster_6]

I still think guerra misread the 2nd try and the pass from brooks was top shelf and would have beaten 90% of defences

The First Try was due to a lack of numbers, the pass was good but it was a pretty stock standard play where we just didn't count properly. We had 5 defenders on the left, 4 on the right & 4 under the posts. Pretty basic mistake, you gotta have 5 on each side and if you don't one of the middles has gotta work hard to slide quickly.

Pearce gets caught defending an unders line from the 2nd rower, Aubusson gets caught defending the numbers out the back and Aloiai changes his run last second and runs a nice out line for Brooks. Just poor concentration from us on last tackle, probably expecting the kick and just lapsed.

2nd try there was a few issues, Guerra needed to slide off the tackle quicker, Tetevano didn't cover the inside hard enough, Pearce got caught ball watching & Ferguson was way too deep (in fairness probably covering the potential kick). There were a number of ways we could've shut that play down but just got found wanting on all of them which was really disappointing. Again right on the half-time siren you gotta wonder if they just clocked off a little bit.

[stringaz]

Pearce never seems to have the time of some other halves. It's like watching Benji and Milford now, I would always be telling at players to shut them down but it's their evasive skill that makes it dangerous to come out of the line at them.

Is it because Pearce's running game isn't that strong he gets swamped by defenders? Might be bias, but he seems to attract alot if attention and quickly when receiving the ball.

I did notice yesty that friend in the second half got a bit farahesque and the service was slower to the first receiver allowing the defensive line more time to rush up.

I would love to see Mitchell up his running game, it might make the opposition hold off him a bit?

[stringaz]

I will add that ball to Guerra was classic halfback play. Loved it.

[PeeGee]

Great breakdown R6.

Shyte it was an important 2 points.

Ive got this feeling we'll go to Cronulla switched on and ready to go.

We need Pearce firing. He's gotta do a job on Maloney

Melbourne was a good form indicator. Cronulla will be the same.

[Rooster_6]

Pearce never seems to have the time of some other halves. It's like watching Benji and Milford now, I would always be telling at players to shut them down but it's their evasive skill that makes it dangerous to come out of the line at them.

Is it because Pearce's running game isn't that strong he gets swamped by defenders? Might be bias, but he seems to attract alot if attention and quickly when receiving the ball.

I did notice yesty that friend in the second half got a bit farahesque and the service was slower to the first receiver allowing the defensive line more time to rush up.

I would love to see Mitchell up his running game, it might make the opposition hold off him a bit?

Benji & Milford play completely different roles to Pearce though. There's no doubt they have more time with ball in hand partially due to their evasiveness but largely due to the fact they're receiving the ball at 2nd receiver 2 or 3 passes wide of the ruck where there's always going to be more space.

Pearce is a traditional first receiver so he's there to create space for his second receiver and outside men by organising the side and directing play. Pearce isn't a bad second receiver, in fact his pass selection is excellent and something we used to see a lot from him under Brian Smith but under Robbo he's had to refine his game and become a specialist halfback who does all the organising and very little of the ball playing which is why you always hear Robbo talk about his organisational play being up there with the best in the game when he doesn't feel like he's getting the recognition he deserves.

There was a good example of Pearce's pass selection from second receiver yesterday, it was a rare sight to see Keary passing to Pearce;

https://youtu.be/t8HHtFgZ5jo?t=9m46s

Was interesting to hear Robbo say post game they tried some new things in attack last night, some that came off and some that didn't. I wonder if pushing Pearce a little wider on set plays as a variation might be one of them. You can see opposition coaches have really highlighted the Pearce/Keary combo by putting a huge focus on a lot of inside pressure and line speed applied to Pearce lately, switching them around every now and then might just catch a few teams out.

[mightyrooster]

Pearce never seems to have the time of some other halves. It's like watching Benji and Milford now, I would always be telling at players to shut them down but it's their evasive skill that makes it dangerous to come out of the line at them.

Is it because Pearce's running game isn't that strong he gets swamped by defenders? Might be bias, but he seems to attract alot if attention and quickly when receiving the ball.

I did notice yesty that friend in the second half got a bit farahesque and the service was slower to the first receiver allowing the defensive line more time to rush up.

I would love to see Mitchell up his running game, it might make the opposition hold off him a bit?

But Cooper Cronk is not evasive or creative either. Pearce and Milford are completely different players who play completely different roles for their teams.

[Bigchook]

But Cooper Cronk is not evasive or creative either. Pearce and Milford are completely different players who play completely different roles for their teams.

But cooped cronk plays outside Cameron Smith, not Jake friend.

[Arties Pie]

He should never play Origin ever again as he always comes back as damaged goods either by lack of confidence or burnout. He's a solid first grade player but he's no Thurston and never will be. As for whether the club should keep him there are better and worse options out there but if the price is right they should keep him as he's been a loyal servant.

[SupermanSupportsEasts4Eva]

The fact that he (like the Boyd and Jake) have bled for the club over the years says alot about the need for us as fans to show him a bit of loyalty. I wonder sometimes that if he wasn't the no.7 for the most high profile club in Sydney would he be bagged by the media and other team's fans as much?

IMO he is still in the top 5 halves in the comp and he has improved/matured alot over the last couple of seasons. Hopefully his best is still to come.