Players can often find it frustrating when they are rumoured out, and in the case of Roosters halfback Mitch
Pearce, he is indeed frustrated – with the Roosters half angrily denying, that he wants out of the Roosters club early.
Speculation mounted yesterday that both Pearce and Roosters coach Brian Smith were not seeing eye to eye, and had not done so for a month, with their relationship reaching a critical point.
With reports suggesting that Pearce would follow Anasta out of the club for the 2013 NRL season, he said that he has no intentions to go anywhere.
“Yes [I am staying]”, Pearce said when queried on the constant speculation.
“And I am sick of seeing my name in the paper. It is pissing me off”.
Pearce has constantly been hammered for his form of late, despite enjoying a solid start to the year for the Roosters – with Smith insisting that there is no drama or tension between the two.
“There’s zero [drama] as far as I am concerned”, Smith said post-game.
“I have no idea whether it has [affected Pearce’s form]. You would really need to talk to Mitch about whether that is affecting him or not. It has little or no affect on me. It comes generally from the same source, so I have become accustomed to it over a period of time”.
“We are not the happiest little Vegemites going around at the moment, because we have not got where we want to get this season”.
“Some of that is going to cause angst and distrust. That is what happens at professional football clubs.”
“Aside from our general level of disappointment, we have no issues at all, as far as I am concerned”.
Roosters captain Braith Anasta was also not fazed about the constant speculation, cracking a joke that Pearce has been in the papers for more reasons than just his footy this year.
“He has been in the paper for all sorts of things”, Anasta said – in relation to Pearce’s apparent love-life.
“Maybe that impacted him, I do not know”.
Roosters Steve Noyce also chose to avoid any questions related to club dramas, and maintained that Pearce would not be released early from the Bondi club.
Roosters in-form centre, and a close friend of Pearce, said that he was certain Pearce would remain in Bondi, for next season.
“It has been rough on Pearcey,”Kenny-Dowall said.
“But he and the boys are just trying to concentrate on what we can control, and put it aside and play football. It definitely pisses him off. But it is out of his control, and it must be playing on his mind a bit.”
“He just has to worry about his footy. We love him at the club, and we do not want him going anywhere. The boys are sweet, we are still solid”.
“And as long as there is speculation Sonny Bill Williams is being linked with the club, I do not think anyone will be going anywhere,” Kenny-Dowall said cheekily.