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Wayne John Pearce OAM (born 29 March 1960 in Balmain, New South Wales) is an Australian former rugby league footballer and coach. An athletic lock forward for the Balmain Tigers, he was affectionately known as 'Junior'. Pearce represented New South Wales in the State of Origin Series as well as the Australian national rugby league team. Pearce was captain of the Balmain Tigers rugby league club from 1982–1990. A local junior from the Balmain Police Boys club, he made his debut in 1980 and was quickly marked as a future star. Pearce's son, Mitchell is a half-back for the Sydney Roosters. ==Representative career== Not heavily framed for a league forward at only 89 kg, Pearce nonetheless became so good at lock forward with Balmain by the time of the 1982 Kangaroo tour that he was an automatic selection even with Parramatta's dual international Ray Price having a monopoly on the Test lock position. On the tour, Pearce was moved into the second row to accommodate Price, but symbolically took over the lock position after Price retired from international rugby league in 1984, though he often faced strong opposition from Queenslanders Paul Vautin and Bob Lindner for the position. Pearce was awarded the only official performance accolade of the tour when he was voted "players player" of the 1982 Kangaroo Touring Party. Pearce continued to excel at Representative level and in 1984 he won the Harry Sunderland Medal as Player of The Ashes series against the touring Great Britain side. In 1986, Pearce led New South Wales to their first ever 3-0 Origin series win over Queensland. Pearce was a shock omission from the Australian team for the first test of the 1988 Ashes series against Great Britain at the Sydney Football Stadium as selectors opted for an all-Queensland back row of Wally Fullerton-Smith and Paul Vautin (second-row) and Bob Lindner (lock). This test was the 100th played between the two teams and saw Australia win 17-6. Pearce forced his way back into the side for the final two tests (also won by Australia), replacing Lindner (who was moved to the bench) at lock. Following The Ashes defence, Pearce then played in Australia's first ever test against Papua New Guinea on home soil in Wagga Wagga. Following the 1988 NSWRL season, Pearce then played in Australia's 25-12 win over New Zealand in the World Cup Final in front of 47,363 at Eden Park in Auckland. After 19 tests for Australia, 15 State of Origin games for New South Wales (10 as captain), 4 games for City Firsts and 2 games for City Origin, Wayne Pearce retired from representative football after the 1988 World Cup Final. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wayne Pearce」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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