Pearce gets a bit of a bad wrap. I never minded him as a player. I think he offered at least as much as Hastings/gamble. I wouldn't say either of the 3 players has a 10/10 kicking game etc . But then again neither of the other two guys cost a million a season. He was over paid and never in the same class as cronk etc imo. I think he would have fitted in fine to our current lineup just like clune has. We've come a long way.
Tyson Gamble
- Thread starter Kurriboy
- Start date
Newygirl
Todd Bates
That’s just it though, Cronk had less physical ability and talent than Pearce from a younger age but through hard work and practice was able to develop into a well rounded first class half. Pearce on the other hand, basically remained the same player he always was and never really improved his skills greatly. Was still throwing the same hospital passes to his back-rower at end of his career just like the start. Flat and fast was all he could do, never learnt to play slow or add any subtlety to his game to help utilise KP, the way Hastings and even Gamble can.
I sort of see what your saying in terms of pearce plateauing and not improving as much as he could have throughout his career after winning a premiership etc early on. I still think his playmaking ability etc was a bit better than Hastings/gamble at the same stage of their careers. It was very noticeable the difference to the team when he was out injured. I think our team as a whole is a lot better now than it was a few years ago when AOB took over. It's sort of been ongoing progress since the days we were rolling out a spine of lamb/cogger/meaney imo.
Newygirl
Todd Bates
Agree, that the team was very reliant on Pearce back then, particularly because we never had a decent option at five eight, plus hooking injuries but I think the fact that we finished top try scorers in comp this year shows the effectiveness of Hastings and Gamble. Whereas we often struggled to score points with Pearce due to lack of creativity Personally, I just don’t think Pearce would be capable of playing Hastings role as it requires decision making based on how the defence reacts eg hit Fitz short or play out back to KP etc. Just about everything Pearce did was premeditated, even when things clearly weren’t on. He struggled to adjust what he was doing based on defence.
HarVeeGee13
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
Newygirl knows her stuff. 
Was always so telling that our best attacking games with Pearce in the team were Blake Green’s two game cameo in 2020. Another guy in that Hastings mould who was pretty much not an NRL standard athlete, but survived on his ability to read the play, organise shape and get the ball where it needed to go.
Was always so telling that our best attacking games with Pearce in the team were Blake Green’s two game cameo in 2020. Another guy in that Hastings mould who was pretty much not an NRL standard athlete, but survived on his ability to read the play, organise shape and get the ball where it needed to go.
Newygirl
Todd Bates
Thanks, yeah was a shame about Green. Will never forget the game against the tigers when Green threw an inside ball to put KP under the sticks untouched. The look on KPs face, was wtf just happened - someone actually set me up for a try, he looked completely stunned.Newygirl knows her stuff.
Was always so telling that our best attacking games with Pearce in the team were Blake Green’s two game cameo in 2020. Another guy in that Hastings mould who was pretty much not an NRL standard athlete, but survived on his ability to read the play, organise shape and get the ball where it needed to go.
Guess it’s no coincidence that our attack has looked its best in years with Green as the attacking coach.
Lefty
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
The Roosters replaced Pearce with Cronk, because they could see that Pearce was not a good enough halfback to lead the Roosters to a premiership in 2018. The result was that the Roosters won 2 premierships.
I would take a fit Hastings over Pearce any day.
Gamble has played exceptionally well over the last few weeks. It is going to be very difficult for someone to replace him as our 5/8.
We have won 10 games in a row and Hastings and Gamble have played vital roles in our resurgence.
I would take a fit Hastings over Pearce any day.
Gamble has played exceptionally well over the last few weeks. It is going to be very difficult for someone to replace him as our 5/8.
We have won 10 games in a row and Hastings and Gamble have played vital roles in our resurgence.
Yep when that happened I said straight away to my brother (who I was watching with, Raiders fan) that was brilliant from Gamble.
So many players would have gone to ground there, halves included.
I am honestly starting to think we’ve found a Cody Walker style late bloomer in Gamble, I think he’s got a long successful future at the club.
Pearce v Hastings no contest. I'll put it this way, with Hastings here this year our gun centres have had stacks of ball and shone. With Pearce here, our gun right centre complained about the lack of ball he got, and rightfully so, before going back to Cronulla. Pearce never developed a left to right pass. Never really developed much at all. He would come in to his own in the last ten minutes of a tight contest when it was mainly about effort, but it was usually a tight contest because he hadn't found a way of getting his own teams guns into the game.
packo
:) (:
I think if you looked back on our 2 wingers trys this season. Hunt and Tuala would not score a fair bulk of them. Some of their finishes have been first class whether through power, speed or brilliance. Wingers need to cash in on those half chances now. From memory I don’t remember hunt or Tuala finishing try’s off in the current fashion of half chances.
Having our current wingers back when Pearce was running the show would be interesting.
Having our current wingers back when Pearce was running the show would be interesting.
slotmachine
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
Unfair to Tuala who is a very tidy finisher, if you stuck him on the left wing he would score 90% of the tries Greg does because he doesn't have a hand laid on him on the way across the stripe.
Tuala scored 16% of the teams tries in 2001, Greg has scored 17% of the tries this year....
packo
:) (:
Unless we go back and watch every half chance and every try we will not know. And even then it’s subjective.
My post was geared towards thinking it would be interesting. If a winger is scoring untouched, it’s fair to say any NRL standard wingers is going to finish that try.
Don’t forget dom young was in that post.
slotmachine
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
Dom is a different kettle of fish when it comes to try scoring, that is for sure.
He plays on the weaker attacking side and still has more tries than Greg. Not only that he has 5 try assists to 0, and that doesn't include the tries where he throws the second last pass after one of his long line breaks. You could count the number of times Greg has passed the ball in attacking areas on one hand.
Whoever plays right wing next year will be lucky to break double digits for tries.
Kurriboy
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
Thats the media for you, a person stands out or hits the news and its a media pile on.
Rear Admiral Butthead
John Morris
I don’t get how he is responsible for the Bighton incident being in the media so much, other than reporting it in the first place. Should he have not? The guy has a personality and I think trying to blunt it is the wrong thing to do.
Joshhh
Danny 'Bedsy' Buderus
It's good for the game. Luai/Latrell are the same, it gets people talking, generates interest.