Wayne Pearce

Wayne Pearce

Personal information
Full name	Wayne John Pearce
Nickname	Junior
Born	29 March 1960 (1960-03-29) Balmain, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Height	180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	89 kg (14 st 0 lb)
Position	Lock
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1980–1990	Balmain Tigers	193	33	0	0	123
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1983–1988	New South Wales	16	3	0	0	12
1982–1988	Australia	19	6	0	0	21
Coaching information
Club
Years	Team	Gms	W	D	L	W%
1994–1999	Balmain Tigers	158	55	1	101	35
2000	Wests Tigers	26	11	2	13	42
	Total	184	66	3	114	36
Representative
Years	Team	Gms	W	D	L	W%
1999–2001	New South Wales	9	5	1	3	56

Wayne John Pearce OAM (born 29 March 1960 in Balmain, New South Wales) is an Australian former rugby league footballer and coach. An athletic Lock Forward for the Balmain Tigers, he was affectionately known as 'Junior'. Pearce represented New South Wales in the State of Origin Series as well as the Australian national rugby league team.

Pearce was captain of the Balmain Tigers rugby league club from 1982–1990. A local junior from the Balmain Police Boys club, he made his debut in 1980 and was quickly marked as a future star. By his retirement in 1990, Pearce was credited as a player who changed the face of rugby league through a great dedication to fitness and match preparation. He is heralded as the player most responsible for Rugby Leagues evolution into the current professional era. During his career his athleticism and staying power overcame his oft-noted lack of natural ability for rugby league.

Pearce's son, Mitchell is a half-back for the Sydney Roosters and New South Wales Blues.

Representative career

Not heavily framed for a league forward at only 89 kg, Pearce nonetheless became so good at lock forward with Balmain by the time of the 1982 Kangaroo tour that he was an automatic selection even with Ray Price having a monopoly on the Test lock position. On the tour, Pearce was moved into the second row to accommodate Price, but took over the lock position permanently after Price retired from international rugby league in 1984. Pearce was awarded the only official performance accolade of the tour when he was voted "players player" of the 1982 Kangaroo Touring Party. Pearce continued to excel at Representative level and in 1984 he won the Harry Sunderland Medal as Player of the Test Match Series against Great Britain.

Captaincy

Pearce's captaincy proved critical in elevating Balmain from also-rans to a force of the 1980s, in concert with Steve Roach, Benny Elias and later Paul Sironen. Along with fullback Garry Jack, they drove Balmain to the semi-finals in 1983 and every year from 1985 to Pearce's retirement. Pearce won the Rothman's Medal for the best-and-fairest player in 1985, but missed out on the Kangaroo tour the following year after controversially failing a fitness test (he felt himself fit enough to tour).^{[citation needed]}

In 1986 Pearce captained the New South Wales Blues to their first ever State of Origin clean-sweep, but in the following two years there was to be a rapid decline, with Queensland easily winning every match in 1988. After this, Pearce stood down from representative rugby league, despite pressure for him to return after Queensland won even more easily in 1989. In 1988 he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia "for service to rugby league". Pearce was also the inaugural winner of the Ken Stephens Medal for Community Service by a Rugby League player.

Pearce also made an appearance the 1988 Australian television movie The First Kangaroos, which depicted the 1908-09 Kangaroo tour.

Pearce captained the Balmain Tigers to two successive grand finals in 1988 and 1989, both of which they lost. In 1990, Pearce could not play a full match until the seventeenth round, but for the rest of the season he was at his best, seen clearly in the play-off for fifth with Newcastle, when he scored a crucial try from a bomb and carted the ball forward as fearlessly as ever. The following week, though, proved to be his last match as Balmain lost 0–16, sparking a major decline in the club's fortunes after Pearce's retirement.

Accolades

In February 2008, Pearce was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.

Coaching

There was always speculation Pearce would coach Balmain after his retirement, and he did so after the sacking of controversially appointed former union coach Alan Jones at the end of 1993 after three disappointing seasons. Owing to the clubs significant financial problems, Pearce was never able to bring Balmain back to prominence, and as a result of the pressure resulting from the Super League war between 1995 and 1997, they were forced to merge with Wests after the 1999 season. Pearce coached the Wests Tigers through their inaugural year, but unfortunately, the stress involved led him to stand down from club coaching commitments.

Pearce also coached NSW, and in 2000 the Blues beat Queensland 3-0 which included the largest ever win in State of Origin history in Game 3 of the 2000 series, which NSW won 56-16. This resulted in Pearce becoming the only person to ever Captain and Coach a 3-0 series whitewash.

Post retirement

After 10 years as a rugby league commentator for Fox Sports, Pearce was appointed as an inaugural member of the Rugby League Commission which commenced on February 10, 2012. Pearce who is a highly regarded motivational speaker will continue to run his leadership and team performance consultancy through his company Wayne Pearce Advantage. He also fronts the rock cover band Wayne Pearce and the Big Hitters

External links

• Wayne Pearce at the State of Origin official website.

Preceded by Alan Jones 1991–1993	Coach Balmain Tigers 1994–1999	Succeeded by Joint Venture
Preceded by Joint Venture	Coach Wests Tigers 2000	Succeeded by Terry Lamb 2001–2002

Preceded by Tommy Raudonikis 1997–1998

Coach New South Wales State of Origin 1999–2001

Succeeded by Phil Gould 2002–2004