{"id":25792,"date":"2021-01-23T00:29:31","date_gmt":"2021-01-23T01:29:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=25792"},"modified":"2021-01-23T03:00:02","modified_gmt":"2021-01-23T03:00:02","slug":"knights-reveal-leadership-group-after-pearce-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=25792","title":{"rendered":"Knights reveal leadership group after Pearce scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Newcastle Knights have announced a new five-man leadership group following Mitchell Pearce's move to step down as captain ahead of the upcoming season.<\/a><\/p>\n

Today, the Knights announced that Mitch Barnett, Kalyn Ponga, Daniel Saifiti, Blake Green and Jayden Brailey will comprise the group aimed at steering the Knights back into the finals for a consecutive season.<\/p>\n

The club said the players were chosen after an "extensive selection process" and that all five will lead "both on and off the field throughout 2021".<\/p>\n

The club also announced that a decision over which sole player would be handed captaincy would be made in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

\"Kalyn<\/p>\n

The Knights' new leadership re-thinking comes after Pearce handed in his captaincy following a texting scandal involving a female club staffer.<\/a><\/p>\n

Pearce reportedly told club officials he intended to step down and attempt to salvage his relationship with his partner Kristin Scott.<\/p>\n

Pearce was supposed to wed Scott at a 150-person Byron Bay wedding over the Christmas period, before allegations surfaced he had been sending "flirty texts" to a club staffer, who was also in a long-term relationship.<\/p>\n

Pearce struggled to contain his emotions as he publicly addressed the text message scandal that cost him the Knights' captaincy.<\/p>\n

\"Green<\/p>\n

Visibly distressed, he read from a prepared statement at a media conference earlier this month, revealing the "traumatic" impact the saga has had on him, with his relationship in tatters after his scheduled wedding to fiancee Kristin Scott was cancelled.<\/p>\n

He said he regretted the pain he had caused Scott, his family and the club.<\/p>\n

"For me it's been a traumatic few weeks for my personal life and those I love," Pearce said.<\/p>\n

"Unfortunately my actions have impacted the team and more importantly the people I have closest to me, Kristin and my family.<\/p>\n

"I'm taking steps now to address these issues and for me to step down as captain this season.<\/p>\n

"I love this club and I love my family and I'm committed to working as hard as I can to be the best man I can be both on and off the field.<\/p>\n

"I appreciate a bit of respect moving forward and some time to get back to training."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Newcastle Knights have announced a new five-man leadership group following Mitchell Pearce's move to step down as captain ahead of the upcoming season. Today, […]<\/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\/25792"}],"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=25792"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25794,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25792\/revisions\/25794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}