How many passes does a rugby league halfback throw in their career? Thousands. Long ones and short ones, quick bullets and looping floaters, cut-outs to wide runners and pop-ups to charging forwards. Passing is a halfback’s trade.
So it’s amazing how for some, everything can come down to one pass. In one brief, blinding moment, a half’s whole career becomes a question of throwing a ball just once. Like a rugby league adaptation of Kipling: if you can risk it all on one ball’s toss…
Mitchell Pearce was in no position to risk anything. It would’ve been hard to blame him if he’d turned down the offer to play in Game 3 in the first place. Origin has burned him like it has burned few others. Not all the criticism thrown his way has been unfair, but all of it hurt, and in a world full of hurt, who needs to invite more in of his own accord?
But answer the call he did, and invite the hurt he did, and with a bare half-minute on the clock, and the script of the match clearly reading “fade out on wildly celebrating Queensland players after golden-point victory”, Pearce found himself holding the ball, and with a choice to make.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
It wasn’t a difficult choice. The game was nearly over. New South Wales had let the lead slip, but extra time was looming and the side simply had to knuckle down, reset, and try to hold back Queensland’s momentum long enough to sneak a shot at a field goal themselves.
The path forward was obvious. Take a run, or hand the ball off to a forward to hit it up. Keep that ball secure, and we’d try to salvage the series in sudden-death.
We cannot know what goes through a player’s head at such a time. We cannot know if six losing deciders flash before his eyes. We cannot know if he thinks about the past, and the hurt. We cannot know if he’s thinking about redemption, or survival, or if he’s thinking about nothing at all.
Perhaps, after nearly eighty minutes of running and passing and tackling and straining every sinew, in a state of exhaustion, Mitchell Pearce was operating purely on muscle memory, the instincts honed from a lifetime running around paddocks and throwing around Steedens.
All we know is he didn’t make the easy choice. He made the mad choice. He made the choice that nobody expected, because everyone was wound so tight, so caught up in the gut-churning tension of the match, that they didn’t see what he saw.
Space.
Rugby league, like all football codes, is all about space, and the discovery or creation of it. A halfback’s greatest responsibility is to identify space when it appears, and get the ball into it.
Mitchell Pearce saw space. The game was nearly over, golden point was roaring down upon the Blues like a train on a damsel bound to the tracks, all were resigned to a cutthroat one-pointer shootout. But Mitchell Pearce saw space, and the man with the most to lose, the man who more than anyone else was in no position to take a risk, thought to himself, “what the hell”.
And he threw a pass. Of all the thousands he’s thrown and will throw in his life, he threw the pass.
It wasn’t a dazzling pass. It didn’t cut through the air like a missile, but arced lazily into the night sky like an empty thrown out the window of a ute. It sailed inelegantly out to the right edge, and landed in the hands of that long-limbed human Rolls Royce, Turbo Tommy Trbojevic.
And Tommy ran. And he flipped the ball to Blake Ferguson. And Fergo skipped out of the reach of diving hands, and tiptoed perilously close to the sideline. And he hurled the ball infield to the champion of champions, James Tedesco. And Tedesco propped, and dodged, and hurtled for the corner. And he got there.
(Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
And Sydney erupted. A Blue victory to set beside all the Maroons ones, those ones when they seemed down and out and somehow summoned a miracle at the bell. A triumph for every man in blue, and for their beloved coach Freddy. And a series win: the first for the man in number seven.
He wasn’t the best player on the field. He wasn’t a superstar.
But he threw a pass. And sometimes it only takes one pass to make all the hurt go away.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
The commentary around players in SOO in particular has been pretty ordinary for a fair while now. Players like Pearce, Farrah and Gallen have played in an unfortunate era for NSW and lost plenty of games but the armchair critics from both states have given these players too much curry. Plenty of decent players from all sorts of sports miss out on winning after coming up against superior teams over extended periods. Now Pearce plays in the superior outfit which wins in the final seconds and he still cops some curry. Being the next level down from players like Cronk and co is still a fairly decent level.
Daniel Szabo
Roar Guru
Get over myself? hahaha alright mate calm down. A difference of opinion doesn't require personal attacks. Adam Reynolds had 2 games and was no worse than Mitchell Pearce. He's also been great this season for the Rabbitohs (actually for years) and only ever lost his Origin spot due to injury. And he didn't kick to Slater on the full as if it was going out of fashion - unlike Pearce
anthony15
Roar Rookie
Adam Reynolds was a peanut in origin. He was much worse than Pearce, get over yourself....
Daniel Szabo
Roar Guru
I'm not bagging Pearce. I'm bagging Fittler for basically saying that Pearce was responsible for starting the movement that led to the match-winning try when in fact it was Murray. And to a lesser extent I'm bagging the media for turning this into a Pearce redemption story when in actual fact he did very little to redeem his previous 18 mediocre performances in the Blue jersey. Pearce was solid at best on Wednesday night. He made his tackles (mostly), he didn't kick endlessly to Munster on the full (as he has done to Slater for years) and he didn't get overawed by the occasion. I actually think this was one of his better performances in that he didn't overplay his hand. In years gone by he would've tried to be the miracle man. This time he gave early ball to Tedesco which led to the first of Teddy's 2 tries. He had a good game, he's a series-winner. Congratulations to him. But the fact remains that he will never be the game-breaking halfback that NSW needs. Neither is Cleary, but the difference there is he has the potential to become that as he's only young. And aside from Cleary, if Keary was fit Pearce would never have factored into calculations. I also would have picked Adam Reynolds over Pearce for this game.
Paul
Roar Guru
A rookie mistake Adam. I'd suggest Qld has gotten away with murder over the past 10 years, playing many guys who had "mediocre" games but played with 4 or 5 legends who MADE them look good. If Pearce had a Smith, Slater or Thurston, he'd a) have won more games and b) be seen as a much better player. If anyone needs to think before commenting.....
Paul
Roar Guru
Peter, I think many of these comments smack of sour grapes. Players are allowed to improve and Pearce has clearly done so. It makes zero difference what a guy does in a game as long as he a) does nothing to contribute to a defeat and b) makes best use of the opportunities that come his way. Pearce is never likely to be an absolute superstar and to suggest otherwise is simply silly. He is however a good, honest footballer, good enough to win a premiership and certainly good enough to help his team mates win a game with a piece of play that mattered.
Paul
Guest
Well we almost lost it and it would have been on the back of Pearce. To say that he played well would be a lie, he done one pass and that's it. If NSW had lost you all would be looking at the first try that was scored through Pearce and almost a second one with Mbye not long after. Pearce should not had even been considered when you look at his record for Origin. Everyone keeps blaming someone else for his mistakes Fittler listens to others far to much and that will be his downfall.
Zavjalova
Roar Rookie
God help him if they lost. I think he should retire from rep footy now. Good way to finish
Adam Bagnall
Roar Guru
Those other players didn't play 18 mediocre games before Wednesday night. Please think before you reply with such rookie mistakes
Andy F
Roar Rookie
Yep. Watched the replay and Mbye was definitely sweating on the intercept.
soapit
Roar Guru
gould missed that he gae it a little double pump to make mbye commit to an option and make the intercept unlikely
Chris Love
Guest
I think it is fair to say that the majority of previous criticism was actually aimed at the selectors that kept picking Pearce. Especially the Wally Lewis award to Billy Slater, former coach Laurie Daley. Year after year Pearce gave it the best he could. He was committed in defence but just never really stepped up in attack. When QLD put the pressure on he drove the ball back down Billy Slater’s throat time after time. The telling feature of how mediocre Pearce had been in the past is, if it was a debutant that threw the exact same pass in the exact same situation, no one would be talking about it. Nothing would have been written about it, and we’d be all talking about the brilliance of the Turbo/Fergo/Teddy brilliance that followed. Don’t get me wrong, Pearce has been the form half of the competition this year, he’s a well above average club half with titles to show for it. But that was said many of the years he was picked and never stood up in blue when in counted.
Dizzy
Guest
After we scored the winning try I wanted to dress my dog in a Queensland Jersey and hump it. Ohhh sweet victory....woof.
2blues
Roar Rookie
Phil Gould's commentary - so much doom and gloom for NSW. I get it that he has coached NSW to series wins and has been involved in the game for many years, so I think he believes he has a unique insight into Queensland mentality. However, I think he overdid the warnings of a Queensland comeback to the point of being annoying. I think most State of Origin followers know of Queensland's ability to manufacture a win from the most impossible positions. We have seen it happen so many times. However, do we need to be reminded to the point of tedium. That fact that he was almost proved correct didn't improve this stain on his commentary for me - but it made the win feel even better.
2blues
Roar Rookie
Mitchell Pearce has not been treated kindly by State of Origin history. He has played through a period when Queensland where blessed with superstars such as Lockyer, Smith, Thurston, Inglis, Cronk and Slater. Pearce, partly through his heritage I guess, was hoped to be part of NSW's answer to Queensland's good fortune. This would have been a lot of pressure to carry. Unfortunately, we often went close but couldn't win the vital moments in many games and Pearce came away with no series wins and much of the burden of NSW disappointment on his shoulders. To me he had most of the skills of a good halfback and he consistently put in a good effort. However, he seemed to lack the time, composure and game management skills of a great half. He was bought into the NSW side at a young age before he even had the chance to begin to develop these qualities. Also NSW's forwards were often losing the battle up front during these times. Not an ideal set up for a young half. Recent games for the Knights show Pearce's game management skill may be developing late in his career. State of Origin 3 2019, he put his hand up for selection for NSW after their 1st choice half was declared unavailable due to injury. His name came up for selection in Origin 1 and 2 after some good performances with the knights but he had his own injury issues at the these times. Given the history of his career it would have been understandable if he declared himself unavailable for game 3. Why put yourself through the pressure of that situation? To his credit, he took the challenge on. To me, this showed his competitive and positive spirit and loyalty to the NSW cause. He must have believed he had something to offer the NSW team. Throughout the game, I thought he went ok without being brilliant. When NSW led by 12 points with 10 minutes to go he must have thought the job was almost done. I guess all NSW did. However, Queensland levelled and the thoughts of "here we go again" must have been overwhelming. A minute to go and a chance comes up with the ball in Pearce's hands. I believe the author is right - it took courage to take the chance and throw a longish pass to the outside man. I don't think Pearce would have thought too much about it, instincts took over. From there several other players played their part in what was I think one of the best ever Origin tries. The pass to Ferguson from Tom Trbojevic was spot on. Ferguson's run along the sideline while evading a tackle was mesmerising. How did he stay in? I thought the touch judges flag would surely go up but it thankfully stayed down. As well, during this, Ferguson had the strength, speed and power to evade a tackle and pull forward and away. Then he had to get a pass to Tedesco who had slightly over ran it but somehow reached back and pulled it in. In many similar situations the pass goes forward but it hadn't. Amazing skills from both. Then in reaching back for the pass Tesco had to double back then go forward again. Surely the defence would have caught him but he powered on and even then it all looked so awkward maybe he would fumble the grounding. To the untold joy of NSW the grounding was good and the game and series goes to NSW. Surely a best ever finish. Mitchell Pearce finally plays in a series winning game. It is only one game and most of the work had already been done last year and the first two games of this year. However, he played a significant part in the win and deserves this small taste of Origin series winning success. Lets not dwell on the redemption story and instead give him credit for his choice to take the chance to pass. The future - James Maloney appears to be off to England next year. If they are fit and available, Nathan Cleary and Luke Keary seem to be favoured as NSW's next halves pairing. If this doesn't work out I think Pearce, with the maturity and leadership he is developing at the Knights, could play a role.
Peter
Guest
Daniel, Adam, Roar gurus or not, it’s the pack mentality bordering on lynch mob that is distasteful. Was Mitchell Pearce the best NSW player? No, clearly not. Was he the worst? Not according to Scott Pryde he wasn’t - that award went to Wade Graham. Did you bag any of the players Scott rated as performing at the same level or below as Pearce? No you did not. Pffft.
Peter
Guest
Absolutely, brookvalesouth. Nothing to do with Pearce at all. Don’t him any credit for anything ever. Sooner die in a ditch than do that. But you’d be all over him like a rash if he hadn’t thrown the pass, or if someone hadn’t caught it - would have been his fault, should have hung on for extra time. Blah blah blah. Small-minded doesn’t begin to come anywhere near it.
Superspud
Roar Rookie
I think the point is that the pass itself wasn't what made the play great. It was a run of the mill cut out- not channeling Joey Johns here but the fact that he threw the ball at all took a great deal of courage. If It went wrong it would be a major headline. What is it about Phil Gould and QLD? I've just watched the replay and Gould makes Vautin look like a fair and balanced commentator.
Andy F
Roar Rookie
The comments here surprise me a little. Frankly I thought Pearce should’ve been the first choice halfback all series (I would’ve had Maloney all series as well). He played well last night and his defence was good. Towards the end of the game I think it was Gould who mentioned NSW had thrown intercepts in each of the last 5 origin games. Under the circumstances Pearce’s pass, in that context, was a brave choice (which is the point of this article I think). As for not calling this a redemption story. If not, then what is it? Pearce played against what is generally accepted as the best Qld origin team ever. In many of those games the margin was slimmer than last night. In any event Pearce did well last night and even if he never plays origin again he can be proud that he at least played his part in a winning series. A lot of fine players can’t make that claim.
brookvalesouth
Roar Rookie
Lets credit correctly, Murray took the line on and drew defenders in the middle, opening space for Pearce. Turbo saw the space and the overlap, and called the pass. Mitch held the ball for half a second and got it to the man who drew the centre and winger away to create more space outside him. Ferguson, Murray, Turbo and, of course, Tedesco are the important players in the play.