Pearce's captaincy proved critical in elevating Balmain from also-rans to a force of the 1980s, in concert with Steve Roach, Benny Elias and later Paul Sironen. Along with fullback Garry Jack, they drove Balmain to the semi-finals in 1983 and every year from 1985 to Pearce's retirement. Pearce won the Rothman's Medal for the best-and-fairest player in 1985. In 1986 Pearce captained the New South Wales Blues to their first ever State of Origin clean-sweep, but in the following two years there was to be a rapid decline, with Queensland easily winning every match in 1988. After this, Pearce stood down from representative rugby league, despite pressure for him to return after Queensland won even more easily in 1989. In 1988 he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia "for service to rugby league". Pearce was also the inaugural winner of the Ken Stephen Medal for Community Service by a professional rugby league footballer. Pearce also made an appearance the 1988 Australian television movie The First Kangaroos, which depicted the 1908–09 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain. Pearce captained the Balmain Tigers to two successive grand finals in 1988 and 1989, both of which they lost. In 1990, Pearce could not play a full match until the seventeenth round, but for the rest of the season he was at his best, seen clearly in the play-off for fifth with Newcastle, when he scored a crucial try from a bomb and carted the ball forward as fearlessly as ever. The following week, though, proved to be his last match as Balmain lost 0–16, sparking a major decline in the club's fortunes after Pearce's retirement.
Coaching career
Pearce took over as Balmain coach in 1994 from the departing Alan Jones as the club finished with the wooden spoon at seasons end. Pearce coached Balmain for another five 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 with the blues winning game 3 by a then record margin of 40 points. The match was also remembered for Bryan Fletcher's infamous hand grenade try celebration. In 2001, Pearce coached NSW in what would prove to be his last series. His last game in charge was the widely remembered victory by Queensland who defeated NSW 40–14 where Allan Langer who had been playing over in England was phoned by Maroons coach Wayne Bennett in an urgent SOS call to return to Australia for the match. The next day, Sydney newspaper The Daily Telegraph wrote the headline "Bloody Alf".
Accolades
In February 2008, Pearce was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.
Post retirement
After 10 years as a rugby league commentator for Fox Sports, Pearce was appointed as one of the nine inaugural commissioners of the Australian Rugby League Commission at its reconstitution in February 2012. A motivational speaker, he continues to run his leadership and team performance consultancy Wayne Pearce Advantage. He also fronts the rock cover bandWayne Pearce and the Big Hitters. On Sunday 17 April 2016, before Wests Tigers Vs Melbourne Storm round 7, the Hill surrounding Leichhardt Oval was named the Wayne Pearce Hill after him by the Leichhardt Municipal Council and the Wests Tigers Club.
