Wayne Pearce responds to son Mitchell’s wild State of Origin corruption claims | What’s the Buzz

ARL Commission chair Wayne Pearce responds to wild accusations from former NSW halfback and son Mitchell Pearce that the State of Origin series is blatantly corrupt.

The NRL has been left in an awkward and uncomfortable situation around independent commissioner Wayne Pearce and his son Mitchell’s social media outburst at referee Ashley Klein after the State of Origin decider.

Mitchell went ballistic and made outrageous and defamatory remarks on a podcast around the refereeing on Wednesday night, describing it as “corrupt”.

Your columnist does not support his comments in any way and believes Klein confirmed his rating as the No.1 referee in the game with a strong performance that had no bearing on the result.

Wayne Pearce has responded to wild claims from his son that State of Origin is corrupt. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Pearce, a former Origin halfback, made the comments on the Sixes & Sevens podcast he does with another former NRL star, Todd Carney.

An Instagram post promoting Pearce’s comments has since been taken down.

He actually blew up about two incidents in the game that he thought warranted penalties to Queensland.

The Sydney Roosters legend is now living in France, but watched the Origin game on TV.

So on Friday we spoke to his father, who had a completely different view to Mitchell.

“This is the first I’ve heard of it,” Wayne said.

“But I actually congratulated Ash after the game for his good performance, so I’m not sure what Mitchell was talking about.

“I’ll have a chat with him. I look back at the game and all the penalties were warranted.”

When I pressed Wayne about whether the NRL should take action, he said: “It’s a bit like
you … it’s hard to do anything to someone who is not under our jurisdiction.”

Pearce pointed out his son had never received any favouritism from the NRL.

“I was on the commission when Mitchell was fined $125,000 and suspended for eight weeks for that photo with the dog,” Pearce said.

“He’s probably been treated harsher because I am on the commission.”

The NRL has been left in an uncomfortable situation around independent commissioner Wayne Pearce and his son Mitchell’s social media outburst. Picture: Instagram

WHAT MITCHELL SAID

“I’m going to say it again … it’s corrupt … it’s so obvious at times.

“We went hard about it after Origin II that it was corrupt and blown out of all proportion for Queensland.

“Clearly they have gone in and had meetings all week. Loz (Laurie Daley) has spoken to them. And we get the rub of the green in NSW.

“It’s corrupt … it’s so f---ing blatantly obvious.”

Discussing a penalty to NSW for Queensland lying in the ruck:

“That hasn’t been penalised for four years. Corrupt.

“I’m just stating it now. It’s f---ing corrupt … and it’s so blatantly obvious at times.

“It’s been going on for a long time … we’ve got every right to say it.”

Originally published as Wayne Pearce responds to son Mitchell’s wild State of Origin corruption claims | What’s the Buzz