Pearce’s captaincy under threat
RUGBY LEAGUE
SYDNEY: Newcastle is considering stripping Mitchell Pearce of his club captaincy following a textmessaging scandal with a female staff member resulted in the cancellation of NRL star’s wedding.
The 31yearold halfback is set to rejoin the group for preseason training at the end of the week where he is expected to address teammates to apologise in an attempt to move on.
However, the situation is made even more complicated as Knights secondrower Lachlan Fitzgibbon is a close friend of the partner of the staff member who exchanged texts with Pearce.
On day one of the 2021 preseason, general manager of football, Danny Buderus, said Pearce’s conduct was unacceptable and confirmed the leadership of the team was under review.
‘‘At this stage for several months we’ve been addressing and looking at our leadership model within the club,’’ Buderus said yesterday.
‘‘[Knights coach] Adam O’Brien is a big believer of strong leadership, group leadership, and we really need to hone down into that and work it out and we’re still to finalise those decisions into which way we’re going to go.
‘‘We’re going to take our time and roll it out.
‘‘We have got some good candidates for leadership within that group but that will be for Adam and his team to work out which way the captaincy will go.’’
As a former Knights captain himself, Buderus said Pearce’s behaviour was not reflective of the culture that the club needs to be successful.
After making the finals for the first time in seven seasons last year, the Knights were looking forward to a bigger push for a title in 2021 with Origin forward Tyson Frizell joining the side yesterday.
The mood at Mayfield was a far cry from the enthusiastic welcome the Knights had hoped for Frizell given the uncertainty over Pearce and the potential fractures to the playing group.
However, Buderus said he was confident the team could move on once Pearce addressed the group later this week.
The controversy comes at the worst possible time for Pearce professionally as he continues to negotiate with the club over a contract extension beyond this year.
He has previously stated that he wants to remain at the Knights but the sticking point is understood to be his asking price.—