Pearce will go in for an operation to repair the damage to his thumb later today [Wednesday] with the club confident he will recover in time to play in Newcastle's opening round clash against the Bulldogs at McDonald Jones Stadium on March 12.

Pearce suffered the injury during a routine drill at training late last week while the club was in camp in Tamworth. X-rays confirmed a hairline fracture.

It has continued a disastrous six weeks for the high profile playmaker, who was the centre of a series of unwanted headlines in late December and earlier this month following revelations of a texting scandal involving a female employee of the club that resulted in his wedding to fiancee Kristin Scott being called off.

In his only public appearance since then on January 7, an emotional Pearce read from a prepared statement prior to his first training session of the New Year to officially declare he had handed in the captaincy during a meeting with coach Adam O'Brien and CEO Phil Gardner.

On his personal life, he said: "It's been a traumatic few weeks for my personal life and those I love. Unfortunately, my actions have impacted the team and, more importantly, the people I have closest to me, Kristin and my family."

Pearce will front the media again today [Wednesday] before undergoing surgery.

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