{"id":903001,"date":"2026-09-23T22:20:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T22:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/903001\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T22:20:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T22:20:21","slug":"fremantle-captain-and-tasmanian-export-alex-pearce-leads-team-into-afl-grand-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/903001\/","title":{"rendered":"Fremantle captain and Tasmanian export Alex Pearce leads team into AFL grand final"},"content":{"rendered":"

If Fremantle wins the AFL premiership, the year 1995 will not only be known as the year the Dockers entered the AFL.<\/p>\n

It’ll be known as the birth year of the club’s first-ever premiership captain.<\/p>\n

Ruth Forrest was not only there on June 9, 1995, at the North West Regional Hospital in Burnie \u2014 she was the midwife who delivered Alex Pearce into the world.<\/p>\n

“He was a beautiful, big baby,” she says.<\/p>\n

“And when you hold these babies in your hand after they’re born, there’s just this unlimited potential in every child.”<\/p>\n

\"Ruth<\/p>\n

Ruth Forrest and Alex Pearce. (Supplied: Ruth Forrest)<\/p>\n

Thirty-one years later, Pearce stands on the doorstep of football immortality.<\/p>\n

Ms Forrest, who Tasmanians know as the independent member for Murchison in the state’s upper house, has kept tabs on Pearce since he was a newborn.<\/p>\n

“He’s just this genuine, inspirational leader. That’s what he is,” she said.<\/p>\n

“To see him grow up into that, it must be huge pride for his family, and I share a tiny bit of that.”<\/p>\n

\"Dockers<\/p>\n

Pearce is a key defender known for his spoiling ability. (AAP: Richard Wainwright)<\/p>\n

Young Alex wanted to play cricket at the MCG<\/p>\n

Forrest may have delivered Pearce, but it was parents Scott and Karen who raised him on the coast, in the cradle of Tasmanian sport.<\/p>\n

Mum and sister Georgia were star equestrian riders, while Dad was a gun cricketer for Ulverstone.<\/p>\n

He still umpires and administers the regional competition, while Uncle Jason remains as president of the Ulverstone Cricket Club.<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

Footy is in Pearce’s blood, though he originally wanted to play cricket. (Supplied: Scott and Karen Pearce)<\/p>\n

For young Alex, cricket was the great constant.<\/p>\n

“I played my last game of cricket ever with Alex, in a second grade grand final,” Scott said.<\/p>\n

But footy was in the blood too.<\/p>\n

Grandfather, Wayne Pearce, was a goal machine for the Ulverstone Robins in the 1960s.<\/p>\n

“As a kid growing up, his main aim was to play in a Boxing Day Test at the MCG in cricket,” Scott said.<\/p>\n

“It’s funny how things work out. He’s now going to play at the MCG in a grand final as captain of an AFL team, so he got there in the end.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Pearce was raised in Ulverstone on Tasmania’s north-west coast. (Supplied: Scott and Karen Pearce)<\/p>\n

Scott still has to remind himself that his son is indeed on the brink of becoming an AFL premiership captain \u2014 a title he never thought Alex would hold.<\/p>\n

“Christ, no,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We knew he had some ability as a junior; he had a growth spurt, played one year with the Tassie Mariners. He didn’t play too bad.”<\/p>\n

“But he wasn’t a standout player. He was okay,” he said.<\/p>\n

Out of nowhere, Pearce, who stands 200 centimetres, was drafted to the Dockers at pick 37 in 2013.<\/p>\n

From there, he flourished, and the traits that would see him named Dockers captain began to blossom \u2014 loyalty, justice and trademark north-west coast resilience that was tested when he fractured his leg twice and didn’t play for almost two years.<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

Alex Pearce at the Perth edition of the Brownlow Medal count. (Getty Images: Paul Kane\/AFL Photos)<\/p>\n

He forged a connection with a number of Fremantle’s First Nations players and began to explore and celebrate his own identity as a Palawa man.<\/p>\n

It’s a pursuit that his dad is particularly proud of, and that inspired him to delve into his own ancestry.<\/p>\n

“It’s something I need to do more of, but I’m glad that I’ve looked into a little bit of it so far,” he said.<\/p>\n

“As a rule, you didn’t look too much into that in years gone by, when I was a kid and in early adulthood.<\/p>\n

“But we’re very proud of the way he represents the Indigenous people of Tasmania, and it’s something he’s very proud of as well”\"Footballers<\/p>\n

The Dockers after winning their semi-final against Geelong. (AAP)<\/p>\n

Ulverstone painting the town purple<\/p>\n

Then came the confidence, and the individuality.<\/p>\n

During COVID, Pearce decided to grow his hair out and pierce his own nose.<\/p>\n

Scott said he “doesn’t care much about that stuff” \u2014 but that he took the news of the piercing “better than his mother did”.<\/p>\n

Scott’s job requires him to be on the road, hopping between Ulverstone, Devonport and Burnie.<\/p>\n

His shifts run a little longer, due to locals bailing him up to talk footy, cricket and Alex.<\/p>\n

It’s indicative of a region where town rivalries are put aside when a coastal son or daughter succeeds.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Kim Smith is doing her bit to paint Ulverstone purple. (ABC News: Morgan Timms)<\/p>\n

“We’re a footy family and we know Alex personally,” Kim Smith, owner of Urban Surf and Co in Ulverstone, said.<\/p>\n

“When they won the other night, his mum said to paint the town purple, so we thought why not.”<\/p>\n

Local real estate agent Jakub Lehman is on board too.<\/p>\n

“That’s what small communities are there for,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Jakub Lehman has put posters of Pearce in his Ulverstone business’s windows. (ABC News: Morgan Timms)<\/p>\n

The entire coast is aware of the history that Pearce stands to create if the Dockers defeat Brisbane.<\/p>\n

He’d become the third-ever Tasmanian premiership captain, behind the iconic Darrel Baldock and Royce Hart.<\/p>\n

And he’d also become the first-ever First Nations-identifying premiership captain.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Posters of Pearce decorate the windows of a building in Ulverstone. (ABC News: Morgan Timms)<\/p>\n

But to his family, he will still just be Alex \u2014 or “Moose”.<\/p>\n

“That’s probably one of the great traits,” his dad said.<\/p>\n

“He hasn’t changed. He hasn’t got ahead of himself or anything like that”<\/p>\n

“He’s just a boy from Ulverstone.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If Fremantle wins the AFL premiership, the year 1995 will not only be known as the year the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":903002,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,11292,64,63,55,639,9659,10993,10124,447630,11288,20248,46748,85,2801],"class_list":["post-903001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-alex-pearce","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-captain","tag-dockers","tag-fremantle-dockers","tag-freo","tag-grand-final","tag-premiership","tag-ruth-forrest","tag-sports","tag-tasmania"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=903001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/903002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}