AFLW news: Daisy Pearce on commentary, premierships and being a trailblazer
Daisy Pearce normally just brushes off criticism of women in commentary — but this felt different. She opens up on why she hit back at Rex Hunt ahead of the AFLW season.
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Daisy Pearce is in unfamiliar territory.
The All-Australian has just about done it all in AFL Women’s.
Been a foundation player – tick.
Captained her side – tick.
Returned to football in 2020 after growing and birthing twins, only to remain one of the best players in the competition – tick, tick.
But entering a season as the vanquished – the ones who fell just ever so short?
Well, unlike a lot of football experiences for the Demon, that’s new.
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And how to avenge the loss had seemed like football’s equivalent of Mount Everest, the forward reveals.
“It was pretty tough initially,” Pearce told the Herald Sun this week.
“But life just is busy and gets moving. Everyone feels it in different ways.
“The initial couple of weeks afterwards was hardest bit for me – just that feeling of that it was everything I had to give to a season and to this team and to our ambition of winning and it wasn’t enough. And that hard reality that you have to get better. That was the hardest feeling – how do we do all of that again, and more, because we fell short?”
But they’re ready to get climbing, with the unique chance of two AFLW peaks in 2022.
“To be honest, as life gets busy and little kids and all of that kind of thing, I quickly turned to, ‘What can I do next?’,” the Demons star said.
“That’s definitely been the case. We touched on it and tried to use the lessons out of it once we did get back together as a group, but everyone’s just so focused on what we’re doing right now and the next challenge.
“It’s the blessing of a double-season year – we don’t have to wait too long.”
In the wake of Melbourne’s heartbreaking grand final trip to Adelaide in April that ended with a third “dangler” – premiership medal – for the Crows, speculation surrounding Pearce’s future swirled.
At 34, with twins Roy and Sylvie now three, would she go on?
Or would the lure of a booming media career and a natural future in coaching awaiting see the boots packed away for good?
There was little question for Pearce, who firmly dismisses any suggestion she is only here to search for silverware. Though, it’d be nice.
“People think that I’m hanging on just with the want of trying to win a Grand Final,” she laughs.
“But I just love footy still. It’s not purely to chase a flag. The decision (to play on) came down to the fact that I was still bouncing into the club and the highlight of my week was going to training and working hard with 30 teammates and 20 staff – just 50 awesome people that I love being around and love having this shared purpose with.
“That was the reason. I’m not ready to let go of all that and I still love it. It’s a passion, not a chore. So I would have been mad to give it up while I’m feeling that way.”
BACK ON THE HORSE
Just a few weeks “off” – if you could even call it that – met Pearce in the wake of the grand final defeat after the league announced in May that it would be wrenching the next AFLW season forward to August.
It meant huge logistical shifts for a number of players, including Pearce, who is now balancing a key AFL finals broadcast role with a firm focus on her own footy.
“The quick turnaround was a mental challenge, if anything, because it ended and we probably got two or three weeks to have a proper shutdown, and then you were already starting to get your mind and body moving again and ready for it,” she says.
“But physically I feel like it’s been better.
“For me, with kids and family and everything, it has been so much better not having to train in the wilderness for as long, and try and find time to go. To be able to just have to get to the front door of the footy club and the rest looks after itself, that works a lot better for me.”
At times, “wilderness” has been a literal term.
Hailing from Bright, Pearce would methodically tread a path outside her home with the blank sound of a baby monitor in her ears as the twins napped inside.
“I used to FaceTime the baby monitor and run up and down this 200 metre stretch of path out the front of our house while they slept,” she recalls.
“I’d get my whole running and gym session done in their two-hour nap. I’d have FaceTime in my headphones – I wasn’t listening to motivational bangers, I was listening to peace and waiting for a squawk, and I was only a sprint away from being home again.”
KIDDING AROUND
AS kindergarten looms next year, there’s no luxury of nap time for the training schedule.
There’s help from friends, family and childcare as Pearce clocks up the hours required of an elite athlete amid playing shops and puddle jumping, but there’s finding special moments, too, like the vibrant pair thriving in a club environment.
“To take them down to the footy club, they just get so much out of it,” the three-time All-Australian said.
“That role modelling, and joining in in warm ups. It’s awesome to start to see them get a lot from the environment, rather than it just be cute that they’re there.
“It’s a bit nostalgic, because I remember running around in between peoples’ legs at the footy club. To have our kids there and to think that they will probably remember it from here on out is pretty cool.”
WEIGHT OF RESPONSIBLITY
A recent storm surrounding her commentary only reinforced to Pearce the standing she now has in the game.
When former caller Rex Hunt questioned her place in the commentary box, Pearce was happy to let it slide.
It wasn’t the first time.
But heartened by the outpouring of support in what she said was the sign of “a great shift in the industry”, Pearce – who has since shared texts and a chat with Hunt – noted the importance of standing up.
“I normally just brush this stuff off. But the thing that I felt a bit of a responsibility for is that I now have a better understanding of is that I have a platform that other women or non-binary people or minority groups kind of look up to me in what I’m doing, and they felt disheartened by it,” she said.
“So then while I usually brush it off and get on with my day, I felt a responsibility to make sure they weren’t too disheartened.
“Some of my greatest mentors and supports are men that work in the industry. It’s not all men that think that.”
THE ROAD AHEAD
Pearce’s transition to coaching is underway, with a role at the Cats alongside Chris Scott as part of the AFLW Coaching Acceleration Program.
“I’ve always been envious of their success and the fact being a country girl, it’s like a country footy club who is supported by the entire town and the community of Geelong but just happens to play in the AFL. I’ve always loved that they’ve got that,” she said.
“It is exciting, and a bit of a pinch yourself moment that these opportunities await, really. Another reminder of how much the industry and the competition has grown and how lucky I am to have the platform I do both playing footy and also working in the media.”
The female coaches selected will be employed for a minimum two-year period until 2025, meaning Pearce could choose to play on again next year before taking up the opportunity.
Could she? Maybe. That’s a wait and see.
“If you’d asked me at the start of last year, I would have said, ‘I think this is going to be my last one’,” Pearce said.
“And then I got to the end of the season and I was absolutely loving it. I just don’t want to put that limit on myself. And I was open with Geelong about that. I know the type of person I am – I’d feel bad to go back on it, so I’ve tried to keep it open.”
FULL GUIDE: PLAYERS TO WATCH IN EVERY AFLW TEAM
Compiled by Lauren Wood
On the eve of the seventh season of AFL Women’s, we canvassed every AFLW skipper on the most exciting player at their club.
High-flying marks, blistering pace, former tennis players — the captains are sure this season will have it all.
So who are the ones to keep an eye out for? The captains nominate their picks.
ADELAIDE (Chelsea Randall)
Hannah Button, 25, midfielder
“I’m just really excited to see what she does this season for us.”
BRISBANE (Breanna Koenen)
Ella Smith, 18, wing
“Just an elite young player. She comes from a rowing background, so she’s got that professionalism about her and works really hard.”
CARLTON (Kerryn Harrington)
Brooke Vickers, 19, midfielder
“She is in her second season, she had a pretty interrupted season last year with injury, the way two seasons in one year and has performed in the pre-season and has put in a lot of hard work in the off-season.”
COLLINGWOOD (Steph Chiocci)
Lauren Brazzale, 29, defender/midfielder
“I played with Lauren down in Diamond Creek for 12 years so know her really well. She has come across from Carlton and she plays on the wing with me — just a great addition for us.”
ESSENDON (Bonnie Toogood)
Paige Scott, 18, forward
“Because if you saw her launch at a football, you’d be very excited. I have no doubt she’ll probably take mark of the year. I love her bullishness around the ball.”
FREMANTLE (Angelique Stannett, vice-captain)
Megan Kauffman, 25, midfielder
“She is flying through the midfield at the moment. She also used to be a professional tennis player.”
GEELONG (Meg McDonald)
Nina Morrison, 21, midfielder
“Nina has had two ACL injuries since she started in the competition, season six was her first season back on her knees. Just a star.”
GOLD COAST (Tara Bohanna)
Daisy D’Arcy, 19, midfielder
“This will be her third season with us — she kind of goes a bit under the radar. She’s a really tactical player, and a bit elusive.”
GWS GIANTS (Alicia Eva)
Zarlie Goldsworthy, 17, midfielder
“She will be a very strong inside midfielder one day - she’s very powerful out of the contest but goes forward and can snap goals. A real talent.”
HAWTHORN (Tilly Lucas-Rodd)
Jasmine Fleming, 17, midfielder
“Her evasiveness through traffic is just incredible. She just gets it and takes off and you don’t know where she’s going to go, but then she comes out of the traffic so easily.”
MELBOURNE (Daisy Pearce)
Olivia Purcell, 21, midfielder
“She’s just had another year to settle in with our group. Last year she was coming back from an ACL, so missed a lot of our preseason and the opening round. To have her a lot more settled in and stronger and with more confidence in her body. I’m excited to see what she can do.”
NORTH MELBOURNE (Emma Kearney)
Ellie Gavalas, 26, midfielder
“This will be her fourth season for us at AFLW level, and her growth and development in the mid field it will be really crucial.”
PORT ADELAIDE (Erin Phillips)
Gemma Houghton, 28, forward
“She has come across from Fremantle and it’s like she has been at the club for 10 years, she has really embraced Port Adelaide.”
RICHMOND (Katie Brennan)
Stephanie Williams, 20, forward
“I’m so excited about all our new recruits coming in. But Steph Williams is a great story. She’s just absolutely thriving at the club. We love what she brings - her defensive pressure in that forwardline and just her attack on the footy and endeavour. We’re excited to let her unleash and play free football.”
ST KILDA (Hannah Priest)
Georgia Patrikios, 21, midfielder
“She is back into training and honestly hasn’t lost her touch. She’ll play half-forward, and is really experienced for our forward line.”
SYDNEY (Maddy Collier)
Montana Ham, 18, midfielder
“She is having a pre tough slog in pre season doing VCE and flying back and forth and will be awesome to see her run out in Swans colours.”
WEST COAST (Emma Swanson)
Mikayla Western, 24, wing
“Mikayla Western, who came over from Fremantle, is going to be pretty exciting. She’ll play out on a wing and is just extremely fast. She’s just really quick and exciting to watch.”
WESTERN BULLDOGS (Ellie Blackburn)
Jess Fitzgerald, 20, midfielder
“She played really well in the practice game and has worked hard in the off-season and pre-season. I’m really looking forward to what she’s going to be able to do. A few more preseasons under her belt and she’ll be raring to go.”
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