As new recruit Nathan Wilson and Freo’s new draftees hit the track for the first time at their new club, Alex Pearce made his first training appearance with the main group since breaking his leg in round nine of the 2016 season against Richmond at Domain Stadium.
After more than 560 days in recovery and in the rehab group, Pearce took part in main training drills as he continued his transition back into full training.
Pearce admitted it was an emotional morning.
“This morning I got the call up to join in with the first couple of drills at training, which is the first time since round nine, 2016,” Pearce said.
“It’s been a long time coming. It was a pretty special day actually to be out there with the boys and to finally join back in.”
Fremantle’s list has transitioned significantly since Pearce last trained for Freo. Matthew Pavlich was still at the club in his final year and since then, Freo has recruited and drafted 22 new players.
“A lot of the guys I hadn’t actually trained with at all,” Pearce said.
“Sean Darcy at one stage tapped me on the bum and said ‘it’s good to see you out here for a change, I haven’t trained with you yet’.
“About half the group I haven’t actually trained with, so it was nice.”
Sean Darcy and Alex Pearcce go up against each other at training
During a drinks break, Tommy Sheridan made a point of welcoming Pearce back to the group.
“I think it was before the second drill when all the boys were in together,” Pearce said.
“Tommy got everyone’s attention and told them it’s been roughly 550 days since the last time I trained and he acknowledged that and I got a bit of a round of applause.
“It was nice from Tom, he’s always good at getting around the lads, I was really appreciative of that.”
With the aim to be fully fit for the start of the 2018 season, Pearce said he didn’t feel any restrictions from his leg as the club takes a cautious approach to his return.
“It’s really good, I’ve had a good couple of months, I’m feeling really strong so it’s just a slow progression of building back up,” Pearce said.
“Over the next month or two, I’ll be slowly building and doing a little bit more and continuing my running afterwards until I’m back.
“It’s just all in the plan of peaking for the start of the season.”
