With a field goal to win the game in Golden Point on Anzac day, Mitchell Pearce may well have sealed his return to the Origin arena.
The form number 7 for NSW at the moment, it has never been his performances at club level that have posed an issue. Instead it is the big moments, the deciders, the clutch plays that inevitably come at Origin level that Pearce has always gone AWOL for.
Queensland have been renowed for their clutch plays over a decade of dominance. Lockyer to win game one in 2011 with a beautiful inside pass to Slater in the dying minutes.
Cronk with field goals in 2012 to win the series, and in 2015 to win Game 1. Those are the kinds of big plays that Queensland invariably come up with and while momentum in games is so valuable, in such close matches it is those moments that players need to nail.
The only series NSW has won over the last ten years, in 2014, Pearce missed out on. It cannot be said that they won because of his absence – it was the player in jersey number one that had some clutch moments for his side.
Jarryd Hayne had three massive plays in the 2014 series, three moments that if he doesn’t nail then NSW are probably still chasing an overdue series win. His try in game one of that series, another effort to set up the Morris twins and a try-saving effort on Sam Thaiday in game two were the catalysts for their breakthrough win.
It is the reason Hayne is still being talked about in terms of Origin, despite having limited games under his belt. He loves the big stage. He has the moments to prove it. He makes Queensland nervous.
Pearce on the other hand doesn’t have the aura about him in Origin. Moments have passed him by where he should have stood up and taken the game by the scruff of the neck but didn’t. He has had those moments at club level but never in Origin.
The time between field goals was also deeply concerning, yesterday was his first successful attempt for six years. As mentioned Queensland have scored two one point wins off the boot of Cronk in games that Pearce took part in.
While he may have other exponents to take a shot, it is his job as number 7 to come up with the right play when the game hangs in the balance. All of Queensland’s spine are capable of that, and the reverse needs to apply for NSW.
Bigger questions loom for NSW. The selection of players like Robbie Farah, Michael Jennings and Aaron Woods are under plenty of conjecture as the trio battle for form but look destined for selection all the same.
Pearce has no qualms with form but we’ve seen this script before. Fans grow tired of waiting for his club form to carry over into the interstate arena and ask how many chances can he possibly get?
Yesterday was a good sign, and their are four weeks to see what else he can do. rugby league loves a redemption story and for a man who’s chasing his first Origin series after years of heartache that would be one for all blues fans to savour.
Pearce’s clutch moment will come, it’s whether he can finally nail it as he did yesterday, or consign himself to a pretty ordinary legacy in the Origin arena
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