Face of Nation : NSW Blues five-eighth James Maloney has backed Mitchell Pearce for a “blinder” after his incredible return.
But Maloney hit out at critics of Pearce after the his return to the Blues side after Nathan Cleary pulled out through injury.
Pearce has won just five of the 18 games he’s played as the Blues’ halfback and has never been part of a NSW series victory.
As the halfback, Pearce copped the brunt of the criticism and was written off by many pundits who felt he had a black mark against his name and was destined for the Origin scrap heap.
After a remarkable season, whispers intensified that Pearce was set to return for Origin II before an injury officially scuttled his chances.
Pearce was the Dally M leader after 12 rounds before the voting went behind closed doors after leading the Newcastle Knights to a eight wins from 14 games so far this season.
Speaking after his first training session with Pearce since 2017, Maloney said the Origin pressure cooker can be a brutal beast.
“That’s Origin, mate. Nathan and Cody copped a hammering after one game,” Maloney said.
“That’s what NSW people do, if you get it wrong they hammer you. He’s copped a lot of unfair criticism and I think he’s been a scapegoat for when things have gone wrong.
“It wasn’t all deserved and it wasn’t all on him. He wears it, he’s always handled it. You’ve got to admire his ability to move past it and continue to play on and play good football. I’d love to see him get the job done out here and right a few wrongs.”
Pearce and Maloney have a long history together with the playmakers leading the Sydney Roosters to the 2013 premiership as a pair.
The duo lined up in the Roosters halves from 2013 to 2015 before Maloney left for the Cronulla Sharks.
Pearce began his road to Origin redemption on Thursday when he participated in his first Blues training session since game three of their 2017 series defeat — his seventh defeat in an Origin decider.
Blues coach Brad Fittler liked what he saw as the Newcastle star fitted seamlessly onto the Blues’ right edge during their 90-minute session at NSW HQ.
“He’s sharp. I think the familiarity of having (Maloney) there and their experience together really helps,” Fittler said.
“Also Boyd (Cordner) … there’s some players here he knows. I think it went really smoothly for our first session.”
Fittler wouldn’t commit to planting each playmaker on their edge and suggested the pair would have the ultimate decision on how they would run the game.
The Blues have two more field sessions before the captain’s run on Tuesday.
“I think they’ll work it out. It seemed like it went pretty smoothly then,” Fittler said.
“Having the luxury of playing together before, and won grand finals, they’ll know each other’s strengths. We’ve also got other players there that have got certain skills that can move the ball and do different things.”
Pearce, who received some advice from Blues champion Andrew Johns throughout the session, said Origin was more than putting structures in place.
“(Jimmy and I are) both ball players so we can mix our roles up,” Pearce said. “(But) at the end of the day, Joey Johns said a really good point: Origin’s not won with set plays, it’s won with moments and effort and all that sort of stuff.
“While we need to execute that stuff, there’s a lot more to the game.”
