Why Pearce is the right man for NSW

My point is consistent form. The Knights were 1/5 until rnd 6. His comes good against Eels, Warriors and Dogs and a severely depleted Rabbits and Roosters. Against a real contender - rocks. I'm not saying he's playing badly, he's playing well but I will dispute 'career best form' until he leads them deep into the finals against real contenders.

The topic is consistent form isn’t it ? How many titles do the Turbos have ? Darius must be one of the best form fullbacks at the moment if that’s the criteria..

Come on Adrian ! I agree that Pearce is the right selection for NSW , but only because Cleary is out and there are few other halfback options available. We all know that Pearce will try his heart out and that Mitchell is a cool boys name, but not sure that has really produced great results for NSW in the past ? Just not sure that he operates that well under extreme match pressure ? He has had a good run in recent times but plenty of that has been in combination with the growth & experience provided by other newer Knights like Klemmer, Safiti, Ponga, Fitzgibbon, Lee, Watson, Ramien & Hunt . All was going swimmingly well for Pearce & the new Newcastle, except when they came up against the Benchmark team, the Storm, just two weeks ago when Pearce couldn't rally his troops and another Knights flogging ensued. He even struggled last week against the floundering Broncos, duffing two penalty kicks for touch in a row and missing 7 tackles. For many of us NSW fans, we will still have our fingers crossed that the NSW team are well on top , and won't have to be too reliant on this "new" Mitchell to bring home the bacon. As for the Knights going on to win the premiership on the back of Pearce getting NSW home ? Well, I like you positive fandom, but that too might be a tad optimistic ?

Titles don't matter but MoM do? I don't think the $1k chq sits pride of place beside a premiership trophy. 3 minor premierships included = consistently good. He may not have had too much success at origin level but you cannot deny his form warranted his selection every time. If he gets them to a prelim final, I'll retract the statement.

It isn't a good thing, but it's the flaming truth.

What year exactly at the Roosters was he playing consistently better than he has been these past 2 years at the Knights ? By Knights standards..? Admittedly they were really low last week..humiliatingly low.. Only have your opinion v our opinion and his Dally M positions, but the past 2 months ,what was it 5 consecutive mom awards..how can you beat that ? When did that happen at Bondi ? Titles couldnt be more irrelevant..

There are multiple points of view with this, but I can tell you one of the most important. Belief in the Maroons camp that they could win escalated when Pearce was called into the Blues….. and that isn’t a good thing for NSW.

Andrew Johns, is that you? He's playing very well but not "career best form". Maybe by Knights standards but he was at the helm of a very successful Roosters outfit for a very long time. I believe the Roosters only missed the finals once in his time there, he's 0/1 at Newy. The game goes for 80mins. To say the Hayne cost NSW was 10 seconds of that. That should have one of many plays he executed to get NSW across the line. Why not blame Wade Graham for giving away a dumb penalty where Qld marched up the field and scored the go-ahead try? I respect your passion for your team Adrian but would you be writing this if he still played for the Roosters?

For all the “he was up against Cronk, Thurston, Lockyer, etc” there have been plenty of times in Pearce’s 18 game Origin career, against those players, where NSW has been right in the game or the series in the last 10 minutes. Not once has Pearce put on the play that’s iced the game for NSW. If the blues are as dominant as they were in G2, I have no doubt Pearce will do a job and contribute. It’s if the game is close and heading into the clutch that I have no confidence in Pearce. 18 games is a massive sample size for a half to have not put on one match winning play regardless of who was on the other team. Make no mistake there is a huge amount of pressure on him. If NSW lose, there’ll be gronks that blame Pearce regardless of how he plays. But every play and mistake he makes will be amplified and gone over with a fine tooth comb.

I think him moving to Newcastle has definitely made him have to mature as a footy player. He's had so much hype his whole career and its only now at the knights, where he has had to work much harder, is he showing signs that he is up to it. I really do hope he has a blinder because nsw fans won't give him a break otherwise.

Why is Pearce the right man for NSW... because he is the Steven Bradbury, "Last Man Standing" of NSW Origin halves?