LeagueNews.co | Jess Malloy
NRL star Mitchell Pearce has attributed his career rescue to an unexpected hero after a pesky injury threatened to throw a spanner in the works.
The former Roosters dynamo and offspring of league royalty Wayne Pearce, spilled the beans about his run-in with a ghost haunting his childhood abode in the pages of the latest tome, Australian Ghost Stories, penned by scribe James Phelps.
"I was battling this nagging shoulder injury that just wouldn't quit," Pearce recounted to Phelps.
"I was gritting my teeth through games, trying everything to shake it off, but nothing seemed to work.
And then, out of the blue, the pain just vanished."
At the tender age of 19, Pearce was a greenhorn trying to make his mark in the tough world of Rugby League.
Little did he know, his folks Wayne and Terri had enlisted the help of a ghost whisperer to sweep their house clean of any unwanted spirits, including one mischievous young lad.
Whether it was a stroke of luck or eerie intervention, Pearce's shoulder woe disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared, allowing him to bounce back stronger than ever.
A true tale of triumph against all odds in the unforgiving arena of professional sports.