By Todd Balym
April 28th 2008 @ 8:16am
Get a Roar profile
View The Roar's top rugby league writers.
NRL Tipping now live on The Roar. Join now.
Love new art, fashion, music? Check out Aussie site which unearths all things cool and creative.
Mitchell Pearce into box seat for NSW Origin halfback role
Mitchell Pearce is on the cusp of NSW State of Origin selection after winning the contentious battle for the City No.7 jersey for the annual grudge match with Country.
The teenager was named alongside Sydney Roosters teammate Braith Anasta and will go head-to-head with maligned Parramatta half Brett Finch at WIN Stadium next Friday.
Pearce, 19, and [...]
This article is over 2000 days old and has been trimmed.
Get Australia's best NRL opinion emailed daily.
Like this content? Buzz it up!
Free Email updates:
Our daily emails are only sent if there is content for the sport or that author. You can subscribe to multiple daily emails; or get the daily Roar email with all our content in it. We value privacy. More...


![It’s cold here in England and occasionally windy as well. Perfect weather for cricket. The Poms love wearing an anorak to Lords or The Oval, a thermos of tea and a cheese sandwich tucked under the arm on the Bakerloo Line or Northern Line.
When they arrive at the grounds, they can buy a plastic bucket [...] Geoff Lawson: Twenty20 has set the cricket world alight](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/twenty20-west-indies-th.jpg)
![There are Test matches and there are testing at matches. Pakistan versus Sri Lankan at the National stadium in Karachi last week looked to be extraordinarily testing to all concerned, not least the poor bowlers who toiled on the unforgiving and relentless playing surface.
I can recall English seam bowler Paul Allot’s description of the [...] Geoff Lawson: Green wickets are vital for Test cricket](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/graeme-smith-green-wickets-th.jpg)
![The long wait ends this Friday night when AFL footy returns with the NAB Cup kicking off in Perth. But after a dramatic off-season the new campaign will offer plenty of subplots to keep everybody interested and the pre-season competition presents us with our first insights into it all.
Indeed, this season’s Trade Week was one [...] Ben Somerford: Five things to look out for this AFL pre-season](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/grant-birchall-hawthorn-th.jpg)
![The voting outcome of the 2009 John Eales Medal, voted for by the players, and for the Australia’s Choice Wallaby of the Year award, voted for by the public online, provides an insight into the mentality and playing strength of the Wallabies as they begin their Spring Tour.
Matt Giteau was the winner of the John [...] Spiro Zavos: 1984 Grand Slam will be hard for Wallabies to match](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/1984-grand-slam-wallabies-th.jpg)
![Chris Payne channelled Thierry Henry on Saturday night at the Sydney Football Stadium to help ‘hand’ Sydney FC a berth in the A-League grand final, reigniting the debate over the ethics of an intentional handball.
Payne, an early substitute for the injured John Aloisi, reinstated Sydney FC’s lead in the 30th minute with what was a [...] Adrian Musolino: Can Payne be excused or is he the A-League’s Henry?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/sydney-fc-brosque-payne-th.jpg)
![The sight of Clint Bolton in a Melbourne Heart polo shirt in the week he wore the gloves for Sydney FC as they began their finals campaign didn’t go down too well with Sydney fans and football purists. But it will go down as a significant moment for Melbourne’s second franchise.
It was the moment they [...] Adrian Musolino: Finally the Melbourne Heart starts pumping](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/melbourne-heart-th.jpg)
![As is his nature, the quiet and humble Stephen Larkham has been playing a significant role as one of the world class rugby players plying their skill and helping shape the future of Japanese rugby.
In this interview I did with him the other day, Stephen shares his insight into all things Japanese, including the [...] Todd Louden: A conversation with Stephen Larkham](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/larkham.jpg)
![There’s been much debate on David Gallop’s handling of the Sonny Bill Williams affair. And we hear loud rumblings that rugby league is in poor shape in Australia and that change is needed. So I invited Roar editor, Zolton Zavos, to put his thoughts forward on why he thinks Gus Gould might provide the solution, [...] Steve Kaless: Should Gus Gould replace David Gallop?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/gus-gould-th.jpg)
![If 2009 was meant to herald the return to dominance of the little man in rugby league, then to borrow a phrase from our tourism board, “Where the bloody hell are they?”
The game was meant to be faster, meaning we were going to see more players like Matt Bowen carving up tiring forwards.
However, what coaches [...] Steve Kaless: A good big man will always beat a good small man](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/good-big-man-josh-perry-th.jpg)
![Of all the conjecture surrounding Robbie Fowler’s shock omission from the North Queensland Fury line-up, not much of it has focused on the reasoning behind coach Ian Ferguson’s decision to change his formation and play a lone striker up front.
“We went down the line of changing my formation to 4-1-4-1 and I just needed a [...] Mike Tuckerman: Is physical football ruining the A-League?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/fowler-smarts-th.jpg)
![The most important consideration in selecting a rugby side, and this is the view of Alan Jones, who was an excellent selector, is to get the shape of the side right.
Rugby is a team game and the good selector tries to mix and match the talents of his players so that the entity of the [...] Spiro Zavos: Selecting the ‘real’ World Rugby XV of the decade](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Why-Stirling-Mortlock-lost-Wallaby-captaincy-th.jpg)
![The annual debate on the NAB Cup has surfaced again, but this time it was AFL footy operations manager Adrian Anderson who instigated the discussion by admitting the introduction of more clubs has threatened the competition’s future.
Gold Coast will officially join the AFL in 2011, while the Greater West Sydney club will be added the [...] Ben Somerford: Calls to scrap pre-season competition off the mark](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/bombers-magpies-anzac-chris-bryan-th.jpg)



