Twenty-four hours after undergoing thumb surgery, Newcastle Knights veteran Mitchell Pearce is set to resume contract negotiations with the club.
The roller-coaster ride that has been the 31-year-old’s off-season could take another dramatic twist on Thursday when the former Sydney Rooster sits down with senior club officials.
“I’m not too sure what’s going to happen there,” Pearce said of his immediate future on Wednesday.
“… You never know what is around the corner. I’d love to stay here but at the moment I’ll get the operation … get a good sleep and worry about winning the day tomorrow.’’
MORE: Mbye nominates successor as Tigers captain
Pearce has been locked in contract talks with the Knights for several weeks as he enters the final season of a rich four-year deal.
He was reportedly close to agreeing to terms on a new contract in December before text messages between the veteran No.7 and a female Knights staffer were uncovered.
The scandal saw Pearce’s lavish Bryon Bay wedding postponed and led to his decision to relinquish the Knights captaincy.
Pearce was also this week left out of a new five-man leadership group named by coach Adam O’Brien.
The 297-game veteran was already facing up to a 50 percent pay cut on his current $1 million salary before his latest off-field scandal.
But according to News Corp Australia, the Knights are reportedly now set to offer Pearce a 12-month extension until the end of the 2022 campaign.
It remains to be seen whether Pearce takes the reported offer as a chance to prove himself or an insult.
Rival clubs are reportedly closely monitoring the premiership-winning playmaker’s contract situation.
Meanwhile, Pearce is expected to resume full training early next month after injury his thumb at training last week.
“It’s OK, it’s just a bit of a bump so I’ll get a surgery, a quick little fix this arvo and I should be back out with the ball in about two weeks,” he said.
“It’s a small little hiccup but it’s a long year.”
He added of his role within the squad after O’Brien named Kalyn Ponga, Blake Green, Daniel Saifiti, Mitch Barnett and Jayden Brailey to a five-man leadership group.
“I’m still going to be doing my best and leading as well as I can,” he said.
“There’s obviously reasons for why that (standing down as captain) happened, we all know that, but it’s not going to change my motivation,
“I’ve come out of this more motivated than I’ve ever been.”
