Mitchell Pearce’s words of wisdom for Latrell

Mitchell Pearce knows just how tough life can be in the spotlight as an NRL star, which is why he’s confident former teammate Latrell Mitchell can bounce from a turbulent few weeks on and off the field and return to his best when he comes back from his three-match suspension next month.

Mitchell will miss the next three games for the bottom-placed Bunnies due to a raised elbow that caught Shaun Johnson in the jaw during last week’s insipid loss to the Warriors.

The polarising fullback has had a few controversial moments on and off the field this season that hasn’t been helped by his team’s struggles, with coach Jason Demetriou reportedly set to be sacked after this weekend’s match with Cronulla.

It’s led to some nasty comments online about Mitchell, who has to deal with all this on the field, on social media and everywhere else he goes.

Pearce played with Mitchell at the Roosters and wants to see his former teammate recapture the form that made the two-time premiership winner one of the most feared outside backs in the world.

Mitchell Pearce’s words of wisdom for Latrell

“Watching from the outside, I want nothing but the best for Latrell because everyone is giving a lot of opinions on him,” Pearce said, with Mitchell showing in patches this year that he is still one of the best attacking weapons in the NRL.

“We’ve all been in form slumps in our careers, but Latrell has an abundance of big moments and great achievements.

“It’s a bit of a low point for the club at the moment, but he just needs to find his zone. He can turn these first few rounds into a positive if he returns from suspension and plays well.

“I think Latrell has been in these positions before where he’s struggled with form – every player does it a few times in their career – but it’s probably never been as public as this.

“He just has to find some people who make him feel good and get back into his zone.”

Living in the spotlight wasn’t easy for Pearce, who debuted for a major club like the Roosters as a teenager, all while trying to follow in the footsteps of his famous father.

He had off-field dramas at different stages of his career, was blamed for NSW’s eight-year losing streak to Queensland and was replaced at the Roosters by Cooper Cronk, who went on to win back-to-back titles with Mitchell.

Pearce is now settled back in Sydney and enjoying a new career in the media after a stint with Catalans in the Super League, and he says the easiest way to change the narrative within the media is by simply winning games.

It’s what happened in 2019 when the Knights lost five of their first six matches that led to calls for him to be stripped of the captaincy.

But something clicked and they won six games on the trot – with Pearce scoring in five-straight games – and the same critics who panned him suddenly celebrated the greatest redemption story when he returned to Origin and led the Blues to victory in game three that year.

“All the big games, especially Origin, bring plenty of criticism, but I got used to it and I knew it would come if we lost,” he said.

“It’s never nice to be criticised, and every player and coach would say the same, but the opposite of criticism is positivity, and that all comes down to winning.

“From a player point of view, criticism is never nice, but when I was playing, I created plenty of criticism throughout my career at different levels.

“You get to a point where it’s just part of the game and you’ve got to accept it and learn to thrive from it.

“You’ve got to channel your focus into what’s important. At the end of the day, the criticism quickly turns into compliments if you’re playing well. It’s the cycle of professional sport and any high-pressure environment.

“You’ve just got to focus on what works for you and then get into that happy place and try to turn criticism into positivity.”