AFLW icon Daisy Pearce has settled into life on the west coast, adjusted to the recent raging Perth temperatures and has her sights set on developing and growing the Eagles’ women’s team.
The premiership captain and three-time All-Australian is excited about her new path ahead, and the talented list she’s got to work with.
“I’m really excited, I wouldn’t have moved over here and moved the family over here if I didn’t see great potential in the list,” Pearce told SEN WA.
“There’s plenty of talent, and enough talent in my view, to work with here.
“We will always look to continue to improve the list, but as a starting point, what we’ve got here I’m really excited about.”
Pearce is recognised for her incredible success and drive as a player, teammate and leader, winning Melbourne’s Best and Fairest award three times and named the AFLPA AFLW Best Captain on four occasions.
“I’m a competitor, so as much as I’ll be about love and care, which I think just comes a bit naturally to me, I love my football clubs, that’s just the role they’ve played in my life,” Pearce said.
“I grew up in little country town, was a bit of an odd kid, loved kicking around with the boys, my footy club was my family.
“Similar to when I joined the Darebin Falcons, I wed myself to my footy teams, and Melbourne was the same, and I’ve been here five minutes and I can already feel it happening here.
“I’ll love and care for this group like they are a family, that’s the role footy played in my life and I’m really grateful for the impact that had on me, and now I want to offer that to our players and the staff attached to it.
“But on top of that, I’m a ruthless competitor, I like to win, I did as a player, and I wanted to find any opportunity to improve and continue to improve myself and improve my team and try and make the competition go further.
“There will be things that players won’t like to hear probably because I’ll be pushing them to want to get better.
“But I hope that the work that I do connecting with them and being able to relate to them and building that relationship will make sure that they know that it’s coming from a place of me wanting to help them be great players.”
West Coast have added an impressive combination of both youth and experience to their squad this off season, including teenage talents Jessica Rentsch, Kayley Kavanagh and Georgie Cleaver.
The official AFLW pre-season gets underway on Monday, June 3, with the season kicking off in the final week of August.
