Pearce out to cook Chooks
NEWCASTLE halfback Mitchell Pearce believes the Knights can send a statement to the rest of the rugby league world by beating premiershipfavourites, the Sydney Roosters.
Pearce could also send an invoice to the NRL.
Such is the anticipation for tonight’s clash at Allianz Stadium between the former Rooster Pearce and the man that replaced him, Cooper Cronk, club officials are preparing for the biggest-drawing regularseason crowd between the two sides in two decades.
As of yesterday, ticket sales for the showdown were tracking towards a crowd of up to 15,000.
Anything over a crowd of 15,000 would become the biggest crowd to a RoosterKnights game since 1998 when 15,786 fans watched Brad Fittler and Andrew Johns go head-to-head at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Tonight’s highly fancied City Slickers v The Underdogs from Steel City is a marketer’s dream, layered thick with storylines.
Newcastle recruits Aiden Guerra, Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Connor Watson and Pearce tackle their former club for the first time since departing the Roosters last year.
The foursome are the most number of players from one team to play against their former club the next season since Canterbury’s Michael Ennis, Greg Eastwood, Ben Hannant and David Stagg faced former club Brisbane in 2009.
However, it’s the return of Pearce, the Newcastle halfback, up against the Roosters superstar halfback, Cronk, which has been plastered across billboards and flashed across TV screens this week.
Unlike his rival, Pearce — who many Roosters fans still believe was hard done by in the way that he departed the club after 11 years — has refused to shy away from the hype and interest in his return to Bondi.
“I’m happy to help promote this game because I’m proud of the new mates I now have in this Newcastle side, but you just don’t forget the many mates I still have in the Roosters side,” Pearce said.
“You’ll never catch me saying anything untoward about Cooper. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I have no hard feelings whatsoever towards him and in fact, I have huge respect for the player he is.
“He’s one of the best halfbacks in the world and this Roosters side is a quality side.
“As a footy side, we need to earn respect — winning certainly helps that and without doubt, if we can get the job done against the Roosters, it would be a huge statement for who we are and who we represent, which is our friends and this town.’’