It was a game 672 days in the making with defender Alex Pearce making his long-awaited return from a broken leg in Fremantle’s 50-point loss to Port Adelaide on Saturday at Adelaide Oval.
Playing his first game since round nine of the 2016 season, Pearce took six marks with his 10 disposals.
The 22-year-old is now looking to build on his return performance, starting with Fremantle’s first AFL game at Optus Stadium next Saturday night against Essendon.
“It was tough, I’m not going to lie,” Pearce said.
“Coming back into AFL intensity, it was different. It was a long time to get game number 22, so I am happy to get there.
“I’m really looking to build from this game and hit the next few weeks hard.”
Pearce said an improved effort for the Purple Army will be a key focus this coming week.
“We’re really excited to get our first crack at a new stadium and come out hard,” Pearce said.
“We hope that we can put in a good performance for the fans and we hope they’re all there to come and support us.”
Pearce said senior coach Ross Lyon told the group that improvement will come from a lift in the team's intensity, with Port leading the tackles 63-44 and kicks 260-198.
“(Ross said) not to get too down on ourselves, we gave some good effort for four quarters and we didn’t let them run over the top of us,” Pearce said.
“There’s a few things we need to work on, stopping them kicking it around a little bit and laying some more tackles.
“We have some clear focuses heading into next week and we think we can rectify that and put in a good performance.”
