But what was to come was an emotional outpouring from the Knights halfback.Fronting a sea of cameras and media, and fighting back tears, Pearce pulled out a piece of paper, his words written down to make it “easier to express”.“It’s been a traumatic few weeks for my personal life and for those who I love,” Pearce said.“Unfortunately my actions have impacted the team and more importantly the people I had closest to me, Kristin and my family.”
The 31-year-old was embroiled in a texting scandal with a Knights employee which saw his wedding to fiance Kristin Scott called off and a reported divide amongst the playing group.In what would be one of the hardest 30 seconds of his rugby league career, Pearce owned up to his mistake before he relinquished his captaincy.“I’m taking steps now to address these issues and I feel it will be in the best interest of the club for me to step down as captain this season,” he said.“I love this club and I love my family and I’m committed to working as hard as I can to being the best man I can be both on and off the field.“I appreciate some respect moving forward and time to get back to training.”Pearce then disappeared quickly into Knights headquarters, as coach Adam O’Brien hung around to address the many questions.
He said his former skipper showed “genuine remorse” to teammates on Tuesday, which if anything “galvanised” and strengthened the playing group.“There was a guy standing up there that was owning a big mistake that has hurt some people,” O’Brien said.“Understand the team is like a family, they understand that family members make mistakes.“You don’t turn your back on family members, you support them.“It’s not ideal, there’s plenty of disappointment for a lot of parties involved and it is a private matter but their welfare is the number one priority before football.“I consider myself head of the family and I don’t want to see any member go through that.”The hard decision by Pearce may just be a blessing in disguise to see the number seven’s game thrive in 2021.
“There’s enough pressure on the number seven regardless of being the captain or not,” O’Brien added.“I know Mitchell Pearce playing his best football as our number seven will naturally lead in the game so I’m content with not having the C beside his name, because I know he will lead because of his position and the person he is.“If I can alleviate some of the pressure away from that game I’m happy to do so.”Discussions over the next month are set to consolidate the Knights leadership team moving forward.“Whether that be co-captains or a stand alone captain, with some lieutenants we’re not there yet,” he said.“I’m not going to allow this situation to speed up a process which I think is the most effective for us.“That will give time for us to announce who we think the best leaders are for us this season and that will allow us to train those traits in pre-season.“In my time I have been fortunate to work with two leadership models The Storm and Roosters and it would be a hybrid model of both of those clubs.”
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