In his first two years as a Knight, Mitchell Pearce has been their skipper.
Some question whether or not he is the right one to be their captain. Some say yes and some say no.
I personally think he is the right one to be the skipper but part of me thinks he should relinquish the role to David Klemmer. I’ll split the reasons why.
As halfback, Mitchell Pearce calls the shots anyway
He is the main character. As halfback, he is the general of the soldiers.
It may be known generals gather in their masses, but they also lead the troops and call the shots. If he does give Klemmer the captaincy honours, it can take some pressure off of him. I think he’s learned to cope with the pressure but whether he has or hasn’t, either way it’ll be taken off him.
This offseason under Adam O’Brien will bring out the best of him as a player and halfback as it will for the rest of the Knights’ players.
David Klemmer is a hardcore workhorse
No forward in the game makes as much of an impact as the Klemminator. He’s not only taken his game to a whole new level, he’s brought fellow Newcastle forwards like the Saifiti twins, James Gavet, Lachlan Fitzgibbon, Mitchell Barnett and Sione Mata’utia to say a few with him.
You remember when Jared Waerea-Hargreaves hit the late shot on Kalyn Ponga? How do I put it? You know the movie 50 Shades of Grey? If Klemmer was on the field, there would be a sequel called 50 Shades of Shit as that’s how much he would have kicked out of Waerea-Hargreaves.
The times are a-changing
The legendary Bob Dylan said that and things are starting to look that way. We have a coach who firmly believes we are a top four side.
I’m not going to make any predictions again though, I predicted us to make the eight this year and well, I’m wrong. I own that and I admit it. All the offseason hype made our players overconfident but that never works well.
We got a coach who is going to push us like he did with Melbourne and Sydney (assistant coach with them of course). Another issue we had this season was Nathan Brown downplaying our earlier thrashings of the season. No excuses and no bullshit. I’m prepared to bet that Adam O’Brien will not be as easygoing.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
I’ve said all I think is necessary. Now to you Roarers, a few questions.
Is Mitchell Pearce the right one to captain Newcastle?
Should he share the role with David Klemmer or relinquish it entirely to him?
Should someone else hold the honours?
Can Newcastle finally crack the eight next year?
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