Sydney Roosters halfback Mitchell Pearce to form big difference this time around

THE Cowboys refuse to take confidence from their thumping of Sydney earlier this year for one reason: form halfback Mitchell Pearce was missing.

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COWBOYS players are refusing to take confidence from their thumping of Sydney earlier this year for one reason: the NRL’s form halfback Mitchell Pearce was missing.

Fox Sports Stats reveal that Pearce has been the most damaging half in the game during the past month.

He leads the competition for try assists in the past four weeks, ousting champion Cowboys’ playmaker Johnathan Thurston.

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He is also the leading half for line breaks, making five to edge past Ben Hunt.

Pearce was watching his Roosters team from Townsville’s stands as the Cowboys thumped Sydney 42-10 in Round 10.

Mitchell Pearce celebrates scoring a try.

He was serving a one-game suspension after a nightclub incident for Pearce was fined $500 for refusing to obey a police order to leave a licensed premises.

The incident cost him an Origin series but he is now refreshed and in the form of his career.

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Pearce had the game of his life against South Sydney in the final round of the competition and

was again excellent in the Roosters’ loss to Penrith last week, scoring a sensational solo try.

“He’s been in great form. He’s the reason, not the sole reason but he’s a big part of the reason they have been going so well,” Cowboys backrower Gavin Cooper said.

Hooker Ray Thompson said the Round 10 clash would not be studied this week.

“We won’t look too much into that game,” Thompson said.

“We had the bounce of the ball that game. It is a different story going down to Sydney.”

Cooper said the Cowboys could beat the Roosters because they had shed their inconsistency of the past.

“We have finally started to click in a lot of areas,” he said.

“That was something we struggled with for a long time, Cowboys teams were always known to be a bit erratic. Until that second half of football, we had curbed that.”

The Cowboys secret weapon is coach Paul Green, who was an integral member of the Roosters’ premiership win last year. The former Roosters assistant knows their systems and players inside out.

“Although Greeny was there with the Roosters last year and knows the players quite well, his focus will be on our team,” Cowboys assistant David Furner said.

“As Greeny will talk about this week it is about our preparation and making sure that is right. “He has pressed that point this year. We get our structure right we will be in a position to win the game.’’