{"id":129779,"date":"2021-09-16T07:50:35","date_gmt":"2021-09-16T07:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=129779"},"modified":"2021-09-16T10:58:52","modified_gmt":"2021-09-16T10:58:52","slug":"joeys-verdict-on-pearce-as-early-exit-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=129779","title":{"rendered":"Joey's verdict on Pearce as early exit looms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Knights<\/a> legend Andrew Johns has backed star halfback Mitchell Pearce to take up an offer from French club Catalans, even if it means an early exit from his Newcastle deal.<\/p>\n

The Knights' season ended on the weekend after a narrow defeat to Parramatta in the elimination final<\/a>, which the legendary halfback characterised as a "failure".<\/p>\n

As Johns cast an eye over what the team could look like in 2022, the Eighth Immortal said a move to Europe is an attractive prospect for Pearce, despite having 12 months left to run on his current NRL deal.<\/p>\n

The halfback has been linked to Catalans Dragons, as well as a handful of NRL clubs, including Canterbury Bulldogs, Canberra Raiders, and Wests Tigers.<\/p>\n

But the Super League is the best option, according to Johns.<\/p>\n

"I think that'd be a great opportunity for him," Johns told Wide World of Sports' Freddy and The Eighth.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

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\"Mitchell<\/p>\n

"Catalans offering him a two-three year deal… south of France, anonymous, weekends off, fly into wherever – it takes you half an hour to an hour to fly all over Europe.<\/p>\n

"Less eyes on him, faster more open game.<\/p>\n

"I think if he decides to go, I think Catalans would be a great fit for him."<\/p>\n

NSW Blues coach Brad Fittler praised the depth at the Knights behind Pearce.<\/p>\n

"It'll be interesting what goes on with Mitchell Pearce there," Fittler told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

\"NRL<\/p>\n

"I thought Jake Clifford did an incredible job. Adam Clune coming up as well, you've got Phoenix Crossland."<\/p>\n

Johns is still upbeat about the future for the Knights too, however he said the club needs to find a winning mentality and stay consistent for the whole season.<\/p>\n

"A pass [mark] is winning the competition – that's the only pass you get. Coming runner-up, or third, fourth or sixth or whatever, to me, it is a fail," Johns said.<\/p>\n

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\"Big<\/p>\n

"If you accept just making the eight as a pass then there's a flaw in your club or as an individual.<\/p>\n

"People might be happy that the Knights made the eight but we've got to change some things up, particularly with their attack.<\/p>\n

"They need their attack tweaked, but if we saw that fight from the Knights last week against Parramatta during the year, they would have had a much more successful year.<\/p>\n

"I don't know where it is. They didn't get much opportunity but they just hung in, but we haven't seen that consistently all year."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Looking at potential halves partnerships for next season and beyond at the Knights, Johns added that youngster Tex Hoy needs to embrace a switch to fivbe-eighth, with the No.1 jersey locked up by Origin star Kalyn Ponga.<\/p>\n

"Tex is a fullback but he's got to commit to five-eighth. He won't be playing fullback at the Knights while Kalyn is there," Johns said.<\/p>\n

"They've got a bit of depth at the Knights. Interesting to see what happens with Mitchell."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Knights legend Andrew Johns has backed star halfback Mitchell Pearce to take up an offer from French club Catalans, even if it means an early […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129779"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=129779"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129781,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129779\/revisions\/129781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=129779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=129779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=129779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}