Fremantle Dockers captain Alex Pearce determined to fix the problems that cost his team a finals spot

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Fremantle Dockers captain Alex Pearce determined to fix the problems that cost his team a finals spot

Fremantle captain Alex Pearce is refusing to ask himself ‘what if’ after the Dockers missed the finals but vowed to study the team’s mistakes to avoid them happening again.

Fremantle will watch the finals from afar after finishing in 10th place. They lost their last four games in a season where they fell short in five matches that were decided by less than two goals.

A frustrated Pearce watched the finish to the season from the grandstand after breaking his arm twice. He said there were important lessons for everyone to reflect on.

“There’s a fair few what ifs at the moment. It doesn’t help to think what ifs,” he said.

“If you go back and look at our season there were so many little close games and moments here or there that could have changed things because the margins were so small. But in the end, the messages we have to take from it are ******* than that.

“We, as a collective, weren’t good enough and we need to improve. That’s the message to take away.

“The only way to be better in those moments is to go through them and to not push them aside and forget about it. Reflect on what happened in those close games and those moments when we weren’t quite up to the standard.

“Now that we’ve got another year’s experience and a lot more experience in these tight moments, I think we will learn the lessons. We will be a more experienced, more composed side when it comes down to that. We will win these big moments, win these big games and get to where we want to get to.”

Pearce spoke at Roleystone Junior Football Club while launching “Ahead of the Game” – the AFL’s mental health program for players, parents, coaches, umpires and volunteers which aims to teach everyone about how to handle challenges on and off the field.

Camera IconFremantle captain Alex Pearce speaks to teenagers at Roleystone Junior Football Club about the Ahead of the Game program. Credit: Kelsey Reid/The West ***********

Pearce expressed confidence the Dockers could rise up the ladder next year and said he wasn’t ready for Fremantle’s season to be over.

“It’s a really strange feeling,” he said.

“In the lead up to these last few weeks, we’ve had some disappointment but the belief has been there that we could get it done and play finals. My rehab was centred around get right for the first final and then away we go, ******* finals and we really believed we could go far.

“To have it all end so abruptly when there was so much belief we were good enough, it’s tough. It’s disappointing.”

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