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Daisy Pearce opens up on the Talking Footy podcast

Daisy Pearce didn't grow up wearing designer dresses at red-carpet events like Tuesday night's W Awards, and she certainly didn't want to give up her spot in the forward line.

Tasked in primary school with deciding where to live when her parents split up and her mum moved to Melbourne, she remained in Wandiligong – a small country town 318 kilometres from the MCG – to continue chasing a ball around an oval.

"I ended up deciding to stay with dad for a couple of reasons," Pearce, 28, told Hamish McLachlan on the first episode of the new Talking Footy podcast.

"When I reflect back, one of them was that being a bit different, bit of a tomboy, and having found my little, safe niche at the footy club, I wasn't ready to leave that and thought that by moving to Melbourne I'd have to stop playing footy and pave my way in a big world, which I wasn't quite ready to do."

The thought of Pearce being overawed by the big city meshes little with the women's All Australian team captain who took the AFLW by storm this summer after a couple of years making waves in exhibition matches. A midwife by trade, Pearce thought an elite-level competition would pass her by.

Pearce led from the front on the field. Pic: Getty
Pearce led from the front on the field. Pic: Getty

While she remembers spending her days as a child down at the local ground, Pearce loved football so much that other avenues were on her mind – one that has come to fruition on Seven.

"As a kid I honestly dreamed of being a commentator," Pearce said. "Dad and I, one of his many jobs was a pilot for a long time, we literally used to sit on the couch on a Friday night with Friday night footy on, we'd turn the volume down – no offence to the commentary team – we'd put his aeroplane headsets on with the microphone and pretend we were commentating the game.

LISTEN: Daisy Pearce joins Hamish McLachlan on the first Talking Footy podcast

"We'd sit there and take ourselves fully seriously for the entire match, quarter-time breaks and all. To think then that you're really doing it, you're out there on Etihad Stadium, it's crazy. You almost have to pinch yourself."

With the Demons failing to make the AFLW grand final it has now been a couple of weeks without footy under the bright lights for Pearce, though the skipper had settled into a groove. The first few weeks of the competition, she says, were unlike any other in her life even if she didn't know it at the time.

"I noticed how much pressure I was feeling and how distracted I was heading into that game (round one) once all that went away in rounds three, four and five," Pearce said. "I think it was always going to be challenging for a lot of us when you've hoped this moment would come for so long and suddenly it's upon you. Time to go out and play footy and perform."

Melbourne pencilled themselves into the grand final for almost a day before Adelaide, the eventual premiers, barged their way in on the last day of the home and away season. While the Demons finished outside the top two on percentage, an objective Pearce welcomed the news from AFL football operations boss Simon Lethlean that a longer finals series could be introduced in 2018.

"On the back of this season, I'd make a finals series," Pearce said. "I think that's probably a no-brainer ... Depending on length of season, you could almost go one v four, two v three. Although then first position doesn't really get any advantage for finishing first, but we'll work through that."

LISTEN: Daisy Pearce joins Hamish McLachlan on the first Talking Footy podcast

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