Knights coach Adam O'Brien faces tough call on Mitchell Pearce

Pearce is dealing with a personal crisis after his wedding to fiancee Kristin Scott, scheduled for Byron Bay on Tuesday this week, was postponed last week amid embarrassing allegations that the former NSW halfback had been caught sending inappropriate texts to a Knights employee.

Various reports have referred to the texts as "flirty", "racy" and "sexting", raising the question of whether Knights officials are entitled to expect higher standards from their top-earning and most experienced player.

The Daily Telegraph reported on Monday that Pearce's tenure as skipper, a position he has held since the start of the 2018 season, was "under review".

Knights officials were offered a chance to refute that speculation and endorse Pearce as their leader going forward but declined.

They are instead sticking to a "no comment" policy, arguing it is "a private matter that stays between the two individuals".

But behind the scenes, O'Brien and the powers-that-be are presumably pondering a monumental decision.

Either way, they appear to be facing a no-win situation.

If they were to replace Pearce as skipper, they run the risk of alienating arguably their most influential player.

If they stand by him, there will be inevitable questions raised about the club's leadership and culture.

Pearce is without doubt a superb on-field general and one of the elite playmakers in the NRL.

He sets the highest standards at training and is respected and admired by his teammates.

Yet Knights officials have been nervous from the outset about Pearce's capacity for attracting unwanted headlines that tarnish both his reputation, and his club's.

In his younger days at Sydney Roosters, he was harshly sanctioned by the NRL and savaged in the media after a couple of well-documented incidents.

Newcastle's management nonetheless gambled on signing him to a four-year contract at the end of 2017, keeping their fingers crossed that he had matured and learned from past mistakes.

For the most part, since arriving at the Knights Pearce has upheld his end of the bargain. Rumours about his after-hours activities have generally proven closer to fiction than fact.

But it is fair to say Newcastle officials were concerned when Pearce broke up with a long-term girlfriend soon after signing for the Knights, and were extremely relieved when he started a relationship with Scott and they subsequently announced their engagement.

The club's hope was that a settled home life would allow Pearce to play his best football. Now they are wondering if the self-inflicted uncertainty in Pearce's personal affairs will prove an ongoing distraction.

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Adding to the high stakes is the fact that Pearce is off contract at the end of 2021 and, while he has stated publicly that he wants to stay in Newcastle, the club has reportedly asked him to consider taking a pay cut.

If Pearce, 31, was coming off the best season of his career, he would be in a far stronger bargaining position.

While he played in all 21 games for the Knights in 2020, statistics suggest he was not as effective as in his first two seasons with the club.

His numbers for try assists and kicking metres were both down on 2019, while he missed 77 tackles, the most by any player in the NRL.

Midway through 2019, as Pearce led the Knights on a six-game winning streak, coach Nathan Brown declared he was playing "as well as any player in the competition", and the halfback was recalled by NSW after two years in Origin exile.

This year he scarcely featured in Origin discussions.

In 2018 and 2019, Pearce was prominent on the Dally M leaderboard, finishing fifth (23 points) and 10th (18 points) respectively.

Last season he was awarded only four points.

All of which will be no great revelation to coach O'Brien.

It is highly unlikely the Knights will consider demoting Pearce without O'Brien's approval, and part of the thought process will no doubt revolve around prospective replacements.

David Klemmer could well follow in the footsteps of Mark Sargent, Paul Harragon and Tony Butterfield by leading the Knights into battle.

Daniel Saifiti and Kalyn Ponga would have worthy claims if the Knights wanted a younger captain.

In an ideal world, a 297-game, premiership-winning, Origin representative No.7 would appear a logical skipper for any club.

It's a huge call for O'Brien, but he will know better than anyone whether Mitchell Pearce is the problem, or the solution.

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