Roosters star Mitchell Pearce has run out of chances, writes Phil Rothfield
THERE comes a time when enough is enough. Mitchell Pearce has surely run out of chances, writes PHIL ROTHFIELD.
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SCANDAL: Pearce shamed in drunken party video
SANCTIONS: Pearce to lose captaincy, receive hefty fine
SLOW LEARNER: Pearce has a long way to go off the field
MITCHELL Pearce has surely run out of chances.
We all know young footballers are going to make mistakes but at 26 years of age and with a long history of off-field misdemeanours, there comes a time when enough is enough.
The nauseating video footage that emerged of him simulating sex with a tiny dog at an Australia Day party is as disgusting as it gets. The NRL and the Roosters cannot tolerate it.
Unlike his teammates who are married or have partners, Pearce is single.
He has little focus in life outside rugby league and his social activities.
And it’s what worries the people closest to him.
Pearce has now played seven years of NRL football and knows the responsibility that goes with it.
At least you think he would. For at least two months Pearce hasn’t touched drink.
Like his dad, NRL commissioner Wayne Pearce, a renowned teetotaller.
He has been spotted a number times drinking nothing stronger than mineral water over the Christmas holidays.
On Tuesday the Roosters players went on a harbour cruise to celebrate Australia Day.
Most went back to The Oaks Hotel at Neutral Bay for a couple of beers then went home.
Pearce kicked on. He told teammates he was going to a friend’s house.
And there it ended in the latest scandal that has certainly placed his career under a cloud.
Is it a sackable offence?
Former Raiders star Joel Monaghan was forced out of the NRL when he was photographed in 2010 doing something equally as disgusting and disgraceful with an animal.
Todd Carney was sacked by the Cronulla Sharks over a revolting photo of him drinking his own urine in the toilets of Northies at Cronulla.
Pearce should have known better. He is captain of glamour club the Sydney Roosters.
Previous stupidity involving alcohol has already cost him his State of Origin jersey for the NSW Blues.
If he hasn’t learnt from harsh punishment in the past, you’ve got to have doubts whether he ever will.
At the very least he should be stripped of the Roosters captaincy.
A hefty fine and a long suspension should be the minimum punishment.
This club has had too many incidents over the years. Michael Jennings last year. Carney. Pearce. Willis Meehan. Shaun Kenny-Dowall and the domestic violence allegations he is now defending.
It is why the club is keen to investigate the possibility of getting Sonny Bill Williams back after the Rio Olympics.
There wasn’t an incident in the period when he last played for the Roosters, because unlike Pearce, he is a leader and a role model.
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