Spoiler Alert - The following paragraph contains a spoiler to all six Rocky movies.
Rocky Balboa had multiple wake-up-calls on at least six occassions, usually to his head courtesy of his bigger, stronger, taller, faster and generally more skilful opponents' fists.
But each time, with a bit of help from a corny 80’s montage or two, he lifted himself back off the canvas and back into the ring.
Clancee Pearce’s moment of truth came at the end of the 2011 AFL season after he was delisted by the Fremantle Dockers.
He could have taken that as a knockout punch. But he didn’t.
Like Rocky, he decided to act upon his wake-up-call.
He didn’t have Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger to spurr him on.
What Clancee had was belief in himself and a burning desire to do whatever it took to prove that he could play at the highest level.
So instead of go on holiday, he took up the opportunity to remain at the club and train in the hope of being picked up in the December Rookie Draft.
He built up his fitness, he got stronger and he impressed Freo so much that the club gave him another go.
During the 2012 NAB Cup series, Clancee has been a ball-winning beast, gaining Dream Team scores of 107, 85 and 89, which begs the question: is he a viable Toyota AFL Dream Team option in 2012?
Potentially...yes.
As a rookie he is still ineligible to play AFL footy but Viv Michie has recently been placed on the long-term injury list, which means Freo can promote a rookie-listed player onto the senior list while Michie is out of action.
Pearce is the likely candidate, which means if and, hopefully for him, when he gets the call-up, he will become a viable Dream Team option, especially considering his midfielder/forward dual-position status.
The only drawback is his asking price of $305,000, which is steep.
However, if Clancee gets a guernsey and scores at the rate that he has been, it might be your Dream Team that gets a wake-up-call for not picking him.
CLICK HERE to play Toyota AFL Dream Team
