Wayne Pearce

Wayne John Pearce OAM (born 29 March 1960 in Balmain, New South Wales) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and coach. A lock for the Balmain Tigers, he was known as Junior. Pearce represented New South Wales in the State of Origin Series as well as the Australian national rugby league team. Pearce also made an appearance the 1988 Australian television movie The First Kangaroos, which depicted the 1908–09 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain.^[3]

Wayne Pearce
OAM

Personal information
Full name	Wayne John Pearce
Born	(1960-03-29) 29 March 1960 (age 65) Balmain, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Height	180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	89 kg (14 st 0 lb)
Position	Lock, Second-row
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1980–90 Balmain Tigers 193 33 0 0 123 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1983–88 New South Wales 16 3 0 0 12 1982–88 Australia 19 6 0 0 21 1983–88 NSW City 6 1 0 0 4
Coaching information
Club Years Team Gms W D L W% 1994–99 Balmain Tigers 158 55 1 101 35 2000 Wests Tigers 26 11 2 13 42 Total 184 66 3 114 36 Representative Years Team Gms W D L W% 1999–01 New South Wales 9 5 1 3 56
Source: [1][2]
Relatives	Mitchell Pearce (son)

Coaching career

Pearce took over as Balmain coach in 1994, and coached Balmain for six seasons before they merged with the Western Suburbs Magpies. In 2000, Pearce became the inaugural coach of the Wests Tigers but stepped down after one season. Pearce also coached New South Wales for three seasons and in 2000 led New South Wales to a clean sweep winning the series 3–0. In 2001, Pearce coached NSW in what would prove to be his last series. His last game in charge resulted in a 40–14 defeat by Queensland.^[4][5][6]

Accolades

In February 2008, Pearce was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players (1908–2007), which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.^[7][8]

Personal life

Pearce attended Ibrox Park Boys' High School (later renamed Leichhardt High School), now Sydney Secondary College Leichhardt Campus.^[9]

His son Mitchell Pearce is a former rugby league player.