Daisy Pearce and Tiarna Ernst getting work in ahead of Melbourne, Western Bulldogs women’s game

TIARNA Ernst and Daisy Pearce spend their working hours passing babies to each other but on Sunday they’ll trade bub for ball at Etihad Stadium.

estern Bulldogs and Melbuorne women's team play this week. The Melbourne captain, Daisy Pearce (left) , is a midwife at Box Hill hospital. Drafted to Melbourne in the mini draft a few weeks ago was obstetrician Tirana Erns (right) They pass baby Ruby to each other Picture:Wayne Ludbey

TIARNA Ernst and Daisy Pearce spend their working hours passing babies to each other but on Sunday they’ll trade bub for ball at Etihad Stadium.

The pair will line up for Melbourne against the Western Bulldogs in the fourth AFL women’s match and the first telecast live on TV.

On the field Ernst plays in the ruck. Off it she’s an obstetrician at Box Hill Hospital where she works alongside Pearce who is a midwife when she’s not captaining the Demons.

Ernst plays for Diamond Creek in the Victorian Women’s Football League while Pearce plays for Darebin. The good doctor said the pair worked well together partly because of their football experience.

“The teamwork we have from our clubs has improved our working relationship,” Ernst said. “We’re very good team players within the clinical environment.

“There was one situation where we’d played club footy against each other on the Sunday and it was a very competitive match. The next day we had to do a caesar list together. I was the operating surgeon and she was the midwife.

Daisy Pearce in the thick of the action. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

“We had this moment where I handballed this baby across the operating room to her — not really, I handed her the baby — it was a moment we found very special.”

At 180cm Ernst was a talented sprinter and hurdler before she started playing football while studying medicine at James Cook University in Cairns.

She said her line of work had made her a better player.

“I’m quite ambidextrous with having to use both your hands to do different procedures,” she said.

“I think that’s helped with my handballing in particular, because I can handball with both hands.

“My hand-eye coordination is very good.”

Ernst was surprised to be selected to play for Melbourne against the Bulldogs on Sunday.

“Looking back five years ago never did I think a skinny country kid from far north Queensland would be representing Melbourne Football Club,” she said.

The match will be shown on Channel 7 before the men’s Bulldogs-Demons game.

“If I think about it, it fills my belly with nerves,” Ernst said of the telecast.

Originally published as Daisy Pearce and Tiarna Ernst getting work in ahead of Melbourne, Western Bulldogs women’s game