He was the man on everyone’s lips ahead of the State of Origin series decider.
Mitchell Pearce. New South Wales’ boogeyman, Queensland’s bunny. Cursed, hopeless, unlucky.
Pearce of 18 Origin matches for five wins. Pearce of seven lost Origin series.
The Roosters-turned-Knights halfback is easily one of the most maligned players in the history of the series, making his inclusion for last night’s series decider beyond intriguing.
In the end, however, he didn’t score the match-winning field goal like Blues fans had hoped – or throw the intercept pass Maroons fans were waiting for.
So how do you rate the halfback’s performance in the series decider?
We were joined by Roar NRL expert AJ Mithen on our Origin special episode of Game of Codes to analyse New South Wales’ Game 3 performance as well as what role Pearce played in the win.
Listen to the discussion:
While Pearce may not have necessarily scored the match-winning points himself, it was his ambitious wide pass out to Tom Trbojevic in the last minute that set up Blake Ferguson’s incredible run down the sideline and James Tedesco’s series-winning try.
Visit our Game of Codes hub to catch the full episode and be sure to subscribe and review on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or wherever else you’re listening.