‘Unique’ recruit Bolton exciting Freo skipper Pearce

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‘Unique’ recruit Bolton exciting Freo skipper Pearce

Fremantle recruit Shai Bolton is a “unique” ******* who can make his new teammates more dangerous too, says Dockers skipper Alex Pearce.

Former Richmond dynamo Bolton, who returned to Western Australia in the trade *******, looms as the missing piece in Fremantle’s search for an elusive AFL premiership.

The two-time premiership Tiger and 2022 All-*********** forward has 165 goals from 135 AFL games but can also push through the midfield with devastating effect.

“He’s pretty unique in the competition,” Pearce said of the 25-year-old on Monday.

“Just his agility and how quick he moves, bit of polish with the ball.

“We’ve seen that he’s a talented player and he can play in the forward line and play in the midfield as well.

“So that’s also another good thing to have because our mids like to get forward as well so they can flip with him and hopefully create – they can get dangerous in that way as well.”

Emerging key forward Josh Treacy starred in 2024 with 45 goals before a knee injury, while 21-year-old Jye Amiss (36 goals) went from strength to strength.

Melbourne great Garry Lyon this week told SEN radio Treacy “can be the best forward in the game” – and Pearce backed the 22-year-old.

“I see great possibility for JT,” he said.

“He obviously took such a huge step last year and was one of the dominant forwards in the competition – he was in the top handful before he got injured.

“I really think Jye is ready to take a step up as well. He did so much work last year that went underrated.

“So, yeah, I think both of them will again have a big year and they’re both really fit and really hungry and becoming better leaders.”

The Dockers’ defence has been their strength but their low scoring and slow build-up proved an issue as they fell short of making the finals.

“I think there’ll be slight tweaks to the way we play but a lot of it is going to stay similar and we still want to be a really strong defensive team and good in the contest,” Pearce said.

“Hopefully from that we’ll be able to improve our scoring.”

Key defender Pearce said his left arm – which twice required surgery for separate fractures – had “a pretty gnarly scar” but was getting back to full strength.

The 29-year-old said Fremantle not making the finals had delivered the silver lining of allowing him to fully recover.

“I think I would have played, and there’s every chance I might have broken it again,” he said.

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