Quote: barham red "I suppose the worry would be that he’s not really diversifying into a different sport but more going back to his first love.
I can’t imaging Pearson went into RL with his eyes closed but I would assume that its been far more difficult then he first imagined. RL isn’t football and throwing money at it doesn’t guarantee success, unless its vast amounts and some underhand cap manipulation and even that will struggle.
The key to Pearson’s continued involvement, and level of future investment, will no doubt come down to where the club is in line with his’ business plan’ and whether he has decided he’s thrown enough money at it and its time to tighten the purse strings and re-evaluate the future plan.
Ultimately at this time RL club ownership can only really be a labour of love, he says he’s still in love with it so I’d assume he’ll carry on, but as with the rest of RL the future investment may be scrutinised more closely.'"
His mistake was hiring McRae and Gentle, in Pearson's eyes he was hiring a vastly experienced head coach who had worked at HullFC for years as Director Of Rugby, and an Aussie National side Assistant Coach with a great reputation. Obviously that didn't work out.
he has spent big on players, but we simply got it wrong. We got Ellis who got injured in round 1 and looks knackered after his NRL stint, and we got Holdsworth who could play a good game every now and again, but nowhere near consistently enough. Throw in to the mix that we had to clear out players signed by the old regime who weren't good enough or had off-field issues such as Seymour, Jamie Ellis, O'Carroll etc and its been an expensive time on the playing front.
Unfortunately for Pearson his takeover at the club co-coincided with a reduction in overseas players coming to SL due to the higher salary cap in the NRL and weak exchange rate. There hasn't been as many players on the market as in the past.
For those reasons I can see why Pearson's decided that youth is the future, but this will take time and the big question is whether Pearson and the fans are willing to wait. Pass sales are down, and the challenge is to keep the fans interested and the money coming in while the young players get up to speed.
