Luke Keary’s rise alongside Cooper Cronk a sliding doors moment for Mitchell Pearce

Cooper Cronk’s arrival at the Roosters transformed the careers of Luke Keary and Mitchell Pearce. Keary is going from strength to strength while Pearce struggles in Newcastle.

Luke Keary’s astonishing rise alongside Cooper Cronk is like a ‘sliding doors’ moment for what could have been for Mitchell Pearce.

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Watching Luke Keary’s astonishing rise alongside Cooper Cronk is like a sliding doors moment for what could have been for Mitchell Pearce.

That’s because Keary’s biggest progression as a footballer is straight out of the Cronk handbook.

It is not about doing more, it is about doing less, doing it well, and consistently.

By doing that, it makes the players around him look better.

If you look at the way Keary has learned from Cronk, Keary seems to have a simple approach to the game.

He just looks, and plays, so carefree.

Then you watch Pearce playing for Newcastle and it is like the struggling skipper is still carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.

What you can never do is question Pearce’s commitment.

But the one thing he did at the Roosters, and is still doing at the Knights, is overplaying his hand.

He just tries too hard.

Luke Keary’s astonishing rise alongside Cooper Cronk is like a ‘sliding doors’ moment for what could have been for Mitchell Pearce.

Taking that into account, the most obvious thing is Keary has learned from Cronk that you don’t have to make the game so complicated.

When you have centres like Latrell Mitchell and Joseph Manu, it’s not about what you do before getting them the ball. It is simply about getting them the ball, and getting it to them early.

It is very much the same with James Tedesco.

You don’t need to create the hole. You just have to give Tedesco the ball with enough time so he can use his speed to create his own opportunity.

And whereas the Roosters use power running into early ball, Newcastle are trying so hard to get Kalyn Ponga into space, with Pearce playing deep into the defensive line, that it is taking away from Ponga’s greatest strength as a player.

Mitchell Pearce is struggling at the Knights. Picture: AAP

I just wonder if Pearce ever regrets his decision not to take up Nick Politis’s offer to stay at the Roosters to learn from Cronk.

No one will ever understand the hurt Pearce must have felt when the Roosters brought in Cronk over the top of him.

And people continue to say Pearce was at a stage of his career where he deserved to own a team.

But what can’t be disputed is the Roosters made the right call in bringing in Cronk. And it is Keary who has benefited most.

Luke Keary is going from strength to strength for the Roosters. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Tomorrow night the Roosters take on Melbourne in the grand final rematch and the Keary-Cronk combination is flying.

Another performance like Keary produced last weekend against Cronulla would just about seal the 27-year-old’s place in the NSW halves this year.

Keary is going so well that many now believe he runs the team better on his own than when Cronk is playing beside him.

But don’t underestimate Cronk’s influence on the team.

Whether it be what he is doing behind the play to get his forwards into position, or just driving the game plan, he is still the best in the business at it.

He knows what to do and when to do it. And he rarely deviates from what he knows works.

Which goes to the core of his influence over Keary and other players in the team, notably Jake Friend.

But it is Keary who has really taken his game to a whole new level.

After setting up three tries against the Sharks, Trent Robinson said Keary was entering his prime.

But would that be the case if Cronk hadn’t arrived at Bondi, or if Pearce had stayed?

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Who knows who would have ended up playing off the bench, but Politis was adamant at the time that signing Cronk was not designed to push Pearce out.

Yet Politis and Robinson felt compelled to base their decision on what they believed was in the club’s best interests.

Pearce took with him a tremendous motivation that he could be the man to lift Newcastle back into premiership contention.

But while his form last year seemed to justify the decision, this year Pearce is back playing like he is burdened by the expectation.

What we will never know now is how it would have transpired if Pearce had stayed at the Roosters, or whether it would have been Pearce or Keary who took the back seat.

Whatever the case, Keary has taken his opportunity and he is running with it.

There is no looking back.

I spoke to Politis this week about how far the Roosters had come in recent years, and asked if this team now had the chance to do what the club did in 1974-75 under Jack Gibson and claim back-to-back titles.

“I think we are warming up to it,” Politis said.

“But I can’t rate it with those teams because they won two grand finals back-to-back.

“Round six is a bit early to go off and say things like that.”

But he did speak of Robinson’s influence, praising his calmness and his honesty.

Then Politis brought up Cronk. We didn’t even speak about the decision to let Pearce go.

However, Politis said Cronk’s arrival was a “big turnaround”.

“He has added so much to our club on and off the field,” Politis said.

“He is a wonderful person.”

Originally published as Luke Keary’s rise alongside Cooper Cronk a sliding doors moment for Mitchell Pearce