OF ALL the things that went wrong for NSW in this year’s State of Origin series, few issues will dominate the news cycle south of the Tweed like the role of Mitchell Pearce.

The Blues halfback has now lost all seven series he’s been part of and while you can hardly blame one man for an entire state’s mediocrity, the numbers don’t lie.

In the lead-up to this year’s series NSW coach Laurie Daley anointed Pearce as the man he — and the rest of the players — would look to when something special was needed. But Pearce didn’t produce when his state needed him most.

A promising Game 1 was cut short when he was concussed early in the second half. Andrew Johns accused the Blues of imploding in Game 2 because they played “dumb” football — something any team’s No. 7 needs to take responsibility for — and in Game 3 he was powerless to halt Queensland’s momentum behind a well-beaten forward pack.

He threw a dud pass that almost cost his side a try in the first half of the decider when Tim Glasby was cut down just short of the line after scooping up the loose ball. Cameron Smith then spared Pearce’s blushes when he butchered a certain four-pointer on the very next play by dummying when he should have passed.

Pearce’s kicking game also came under fire as he focused almost exclusively on high kicks that regularly found the Maroons’ back three on the full, rather than trying to put the ball into open space.

His work rate was outstanding throughout the series but he failed to provide the attacking spark needed of first receivers.

Daley is a Pearce fan but with the coach’s future uncertain, so too is that of the Roosters halfback. We’ll have to wait until next year to see if the 28-year-old gets a chance to repair his woeful Origin record, but for Matthew Johns, NSW can’t win if he continues the way he’s going.

Johns didn’t mention Pearce’s name when asked what NSW needs to do to overturn Queensland’s run of dominance, but he didn’t have to.

“We need someone to jump out of the ground in a really key position, that’s what we really need,” he said on the Matty Johns Show on Thursday night.

“What we would love is in the next 12 months a (Panthers halfback) Nathan Cleary to just go to the next level and jump out of the ground. That’s exactly what NSW need.

“I think everything will stem off the No. 7. When we can get a really, really dominant seven that can win a series, things will start to happen.”

Reading between the lines, you’d have to think Johns doesn’t believe Pearce is capable of being that dominant playmaker NSW craves.

Perhaps he’s hoping Pearce will eventually develop into a bona-fide Origin half, but if it hasn’t happened in seven series, at what stage do you give up hope?

That the former NSW and Newcastle pivot is tossing up someone like Cleary as a possible NSW saviour suggests Johns is already prepared to snub Pearce in 2018.

Of course, if no halfback in the NRL “jumps out” like Johns wants, then maybe Pearce will get another shot in the sky blue jersey. Only time will tell.

Ex-NSW back-rower Nathan Hindmarsh said attitude was a huge problem for the Blues rather than any deficiency in key positions. As Andrew Johns complained about NSW not “getting it” in the wake of its 11th series defeat in 12 years, one telling moment perfectly illustrated his point.

Late in the second half Cameron Munster looked like he was tackled but managed to throw a one-handed offload back on the inside to prop Jarrod Wallace, who strolled over to score. NSW front-rowers Aaron Woods and Andrew Fifita were caught walking as they failed to close the gap that opened up for Wallace to run through.

Hindmarsh says a drop-off like that is just “not on” in the Origin cauldron.

“It’s your desire to want to win and turn up for the little players and not let your teammates down,” Hindmarsh said.

“I go back to that try where Wallace scores and that’s just not on in Origin. It’s not on in any game but to clock off on the inside when the ball’s gone across-field, you pull your finger out and you get across there and you close that gap up so things like that don’t happen.”