Clancee focused on improvement
Clancee Pearce will play his 50th AFL game on Friday – not that he knew that.
He can be forgiven, considering one year ago his career as an AFL player appeared over when he was delisted after three fruitless seasons on the rookie list.
After a second chance from Ross Lyon, Pearce’s 23rd game of the 2012 season saw him play his part in the club’s historic first win at the MCG in a final.
“It was very surreal, I didn’t expect to be playing a final at the beginning of the year, so to come and play a final against Geelong, the reigning premiers, and to win is obviously a big achievement for the footy club and as a team,” he said.
“It was amazing, just an amazing experience to play at the MCG.”
Pearce said he wasn’t nervous in the days leading up to the final, but the butterflies arrived on Saturday.
“When I got onto the ground and we did our first warm-up, I started to feel a little bit sick in the stomach,” he said.
The nerves were soon replaced by adrenalin.
“When the ball was bounced, I just clicked into gear,” he said.
“You know what you have to do, just give great effort, as Ross says.”
As Pearce prepares for his 50th, against the Crows, he reflected on what has been a breakout year for him, which, typically, he humbly credits his teammates for.
“It’s amazing, it’s been a great year personally, but for the team, I don’t have any words to describe it,” he said.
“The team has been great. Without the team, I wouldn’t be able to do what I do.”
The 21-year-old hopes Freo can harness what it took from the Geelong win into the game against Adelaide.
“We just need to take what we did well against Geelong and improve upon that,” he said.
“The things we didn’t do so well, we’ll review it and try and improve on that as well.
“It’s all about just improving.
“That’s the way we approach it. Every game is cut-throat and we want to try and improve all the time.”