Pressure on Mitchell will be external

ALL eyes will be on Mitchell Pearce tonight as he makes his return to the State Of Origin arena.

Pearce is the form player in the NRL this season and is the favourite to win the Dally M medal, but that hasn’t stopped people questioning his ability to lead the Blues to victory.

You’ll hear plenty of ‘experts’ and commentators talking about the pressure that Pearce will be under tonight, but that pressure is all external.

Pearce won’t be feeling any pressure; he’s been here, he’s done it before and he’s in the best form of his career.

Pearce is a different player than he was in 2017 when he made his last appearance in a sky blue jersey; he comes into a new side and is playing against a different Queensland team.

This is no disrespect to the current Maroons side, but they don’t have the likes of Cam Smith, Billy Slater, Darren Lockyer and Johnathan Thurston, all future Immortals, like the sides Pearce played during in his previous Origin appearances.

The thing I admire most about Pearce is his willingness to own the result, not matter theoutcome.

Pearce has played 17 State of Origin games and while he may have only won five of them, he’s never taken a backwards step in the arena.

Pearce doesn’t make excuses and he always gives 100 per cent when he walks across the white stripe.

He’s a survivor. Having his good mate James Maloney beside him will help Pearce immensely tonight.

When Pearce and Maloney linked at the Roosters they won a premierships and walked away with three minor premierships.

Pearce and Maloney are both hot-headed players and they both want the ball in their hands when the game is on the line.

How they share that role will determine the end result in the decider.

Both players have great running and passing games and have some serious strike weapons beside them in James Tedesco, Jack Wighton and Tom Trbojevic.

If the Blues pack can lay a platform for Maloney and Pearce to play off the back of, they have the ability to blow the Maroons off the park.

Sport, and rugby league in particular, is littered with great redemption stories and tonight Pearce will have the pen in his hand ready to write his own chapter. MITCHELL Pearce was up against it from the moment he set foot in State of Origin.

He had just turned 19 when thrown into the 2008 decider against what was to become the greatest Queensland team ever assembled, already on track to their third consecutive series victory.

With just a tick over 13 minutes remaining and the scores locked at 10-all, Johnathan Thurston gave his rookie rival his first taste of what it was like to own an Origin moment.

Pearce’s right centre Joel Monaghan was at marker after the fourth tackle when Thurston seized his chance.

Rushing from the open to the short side, Thurston charged at the line with the ball in two hands and a menacing look in his eyes.

Pearce had a tiring prop in Brett White defending on his inside and Greg Inglis coming straight at him when Thurston let rip with show-and-go.

Everyone will tell you, don’t fall for Thurston’s dummy.

But in one mesmerising blink, Thurston was through. White was unable to shut the gate and Pearce was left clutching at air.

All Thurston then had to do was draw fullback Kurt Gidley and moments later a flying Billy Slater was celebrating the series-clinching try.

In the years that followed, Pearce conceded he entered the game’s toughest arena too early.

In truth, it was never his choice. He just had to deal with it the best he could.

Yet his best was never good enough for his many critics as his trademark he became the most-maligned halfback in NSW Origin history.

While the now 30-year-old didn’t get to choose how his Origin journey started, tonight on the same ground at ANZ Stadium he will have the chance to write his own closing chapter.

Pearce has already had two false starts this series, having to tell coach Brad Fittler he was unavailable because of injury.

However, when he returned a missed call from Fittler last Wednesday after Nathan Cleary was ruled out with an ankle injury, Pearce didn’t hesitate to declare he was ready to go in the decider.

With that, arguably Origin’s greatest redemption story took flight. Laurie Daley is no headline hunter but when questioned on radio last Thursday about Pearce’s Origin call-up, the former NSW coach gave an honest assessment.

Daley was always one of Pearce’s greatest supporters and one of the first things he did as Blues coach was back Pearce to be his No.7.

But while Daley didn’t doubt Fittler had made the right call to recall Pearce, he conceded the choice was not without danger.

“I think the only time he will feel under pressure is if the game is in the balance with 10 to eight minutes to go, it is tight, or NSW are behind,” Daley said.

“I think he then may have