Learning curve: Mitchell Pearce. Credit:Getty Images ‘‘Honestly, I didn’t come out of it worrying about anyone else. In the past, I have read into too much of that bullshit. I haven’t spoken since then because everyone was probably sick of seeing my head in the paper after that match. I just wanted to lay low. There was nothing to be said really. We lost the game. No words are going to change it. It’s all shit talk, really.’’ So that means he didn’t read what his former Roosters coach, Brian Smith, had to say in his online blog? ‘‘No,’’ enquires Pearce. ‘‘What did he say?’’ In a detailed analysis, Smith wrote: ‘‘Pearce’s opportunities have resulted in some promise but not enough result.’’ Smith also mused that his former halfback ‘‘struggles technically with passing’’.

Pearce laughs when you tell him this, and what follows illuminates a player who hasn’t been scarred by Origin defeat but possibly emboldened by it. ‘‘Mate, I find that ... I personally don’t think I have a problem with my passing,’’ he says. ‘‘Smithy and I obviously didn’t end on the best terms. I’m not his favourite person to be honest. But that is something I have learnt out of that Origin. When I was younger, or even as soon as last year, I was worried too much about what others were saying. After that game, I feel in the last month I’ve realised you either listen to what people say or you change your habits and ignore it. To me, those people’s opinions mean nothing to me. I know what I have to improve on better than they do. I will listen to the people at the club who I trust. They are the people I listen to now.’’ It’s taken Pearce seven years of first-grade football to learn the life lesson some never solve. He’s always been in a hurry, of course. On Monday night, against the Wests Tigers at Allianz Stadium, he plays his 150th match for the Roosters. The 24-year-old will be the second youngest player in history of the premiership to reach that milestone. The youngest, by 53 days, is former Bulldogs lock Paul Langmack, who did so in 1989. Should Pearce keep playing into his 30s (he recognises he’s been blessed with no serious injuries), Darren Lockyer’s summit of 355 matches could be climbed. In many respects, it was the abundant talent Pearce showed from an early age that has created the pressure he faces around Origin. He was pitchforked into Origin well ahead of his time, in 2008, as a 19-year-old. He has made 12 appearances, and his legion of detractors say he should never wear the sky blue jersey again. That his time has come and gone and they should wash the bloody thing and hand it to Adam Reynolds.

For starters, Pearce doesn’t think he played that poorly in the decider. ‘‘There were four mistakes,’’ he says. ‘‘I dropped the ball early. That wasn’t dire straits but there were a couple of kicks that should’ve been executed better. I don’t think I lost the game for the team, by any means. I don’t think I was the worst player on the field, by any means. It was a thing for me where I learnt something out of it ... I know I need to execute better. Unfortunately I didn’t execute those plays at certain times. But there were plenty of other opportunities to win that game.’’ Pearce would also like to strike from the public record his comments on July 7 about the importance of the decider to his representative career: ‘‘I have got to win – full stop. If I don’t win, I’ve got no doubt I won’t be there.’’ He says now: ‘‘Looking back, I shouldn’t have said what I said before the game about playing my last game. I didn’t put too much thought into the comment. It was something that was fresh on my mind at the time. I didn’t expect it to be the tidal wave that it was ... At the time, I was just being honest. NSW had come to a crossroads, we hadn’t won for a while. I shouldn’t have said it because it put more pressure on myself.’’ Does he want another crack at Origin, then? Does he deserve it? ‘‘I’d love to think so,’’ he says, then he drops the subtle reminder: ‘‘I’m 24.’’

Coaches often talk about the detrimental influence an Origin series defeat can have on a player. Indeed, Smith once told this journalist about his concern over Pearce’s selection for the final two matches of the 2010 series. ‘‘What people don’t see is how they are when they come back,’’ Smith said at the time. ‘‘It takes them a long time to get over the defeat.’’ That year, the Roosters made the grand final. This time, with the loud but also tacit support of his teammates and particularly coach Trent Robinson, Pearce has grabbed his side by the scruff of the neck as it surges towards the minor premiership. In his first match back, against the Sharks, the cameras zeroed in and captured him chuckling just before kick-off. The simple assumption was that he was making a very public statement that Origin hadn’t burnt him as much as others might think. ‘‘I didn’t realise the cameras were on me,’’ he says. ‘‘I’d had a coffee with [Sharks five-eighth] Toddy Carney during the week, and we were just joking. I watched the game back and I was doing something stupid with my shoulders ... There was nothing in it at all. Then again, maybe subconsciously I was relaxed.’’ But then Pearce tells you this: ‘‘This is the best I’ve felt in a team since I started playing first grade. I think the last month has been my best month of footy this season. I was glad I could bounce back.’’

Of all the conceivable subplots of a Roosters-Souths grand final, one of the most delicious is the thought of Pearce squaring off against Reynolds. Of course, it would be folly to suggest such a match would decide who plays halfback for NSW next year. Or would it? ‘‘I love watching Adam Reynolds play,’’ Pearce says. ‘‘His kicking game is outstanding. I watch his game and try to learn off that. I’m excited about taking him on, but no different to taking on Cooper Cronk or Kieran Foran or anyone else in the finals.’’ So say what you want about Pearce and what you think about him as a footballer. He knows how far he has come, and how far there is to go. Loading

‘‘The goals and ambitions I’ve got in my footy career, I don’t think I’m halfway up the ladder of how I want to be as a player, and the influence I want to have at a club level. If I keep working hard with my team, with my coaches, I know that I can have an influence at that level. If they want to go with someone else next year, and they are going better than me at the time, I will be hoping they win.’’ Twitter @awebstar1