Australian Rugby League Commissioner Wayne Pearce sits down with NRL Daily to discuss all things rugby league, including the challenges that lie ahead for the sport, the NSW Origin coaching role and criticism of his son, Mitchell.
“It’s the nature of the game," says Pearce in relation to the negative comments being thrown at his son. “If you’re going to play at that level you cop it. I copped it as a player and as a coach.”
“What annoys me is when they are criticising for the wrong reasons or they have an agenda. Valid criticism comes with the territory… It doesn’t mean I don’t feel sorry for him.”
With Ricky Stuart today announcing he will be coaching the Eels in 2013, Pearce believes this will place too much of a demand on him to be able to also coach the Blues.
“I’d like to think that Ricky could have some sort of involvement,” Pearce said. “I don’t think it’s possible to juggle demands of club coaches and the demands of State of Origin as a full-time gig. You can’t do two full-time jobs.”
In regards to the challenges that lie ahead for rugby league and the newly-formed commission, Pearce says there is one clear goal, which is “bringing together under one umbrella with one clear focus. It's never happened in the game's history before.”
We also take a look at all the late mail for Round 21 and resident Toyota NRL Dream Team expert Rob Bruns gives us his Dream Team top ten for the week.
Get all this and more in tonight's episode of NRL Daily, the only NRL show that's on every night of the week.
Stream it on the NRL.com homepage from 7:00pm tonight, watch it on the official NRL mobile site (Telstra customers only. Action Pack required. Click here for more details) or Telstra T-BOX. You can also watch the best NRL Daily videos on your iPhone with the official NRL iPhone App (Official Pass required. Click here for more details)
