News New Captain for 2023 - Alex Pearce

[Snuffaluphagus]

Pearce officially captain

'It was unanimous across the board' | Peter Bell

Hear from Peter Bell following the announcement of Alex Pearce as captain.

www.fremantlefc.com.au

 

[Stronzo]

The players have got to stop selecting the captain and leadership group.

They’ve gotten it right in most cases, but I don’t feel Pearce is a good fit and there’s at least one questionable member of the leadership group.

 

[summerthebat]

I reckon half those posts could be carbon copies of a thread about David Mundy in 2016.

I don't think he was the right choice for captain but I think he will get his form back.

Yeah, we went four wins and 18 losses that year.

 

[poshman]

I reckon half those posts could be carbon copies of a thread about David Mundy in 2016.

I don't think he was the right choice for captain but I think he will get his form back.

I hope so - but, we should be clear that Mundy was a different level of player without the injury history. Again, I hope you are right though.

 

[bfff]

The players have got to stop selecting the captain and leadership group.

They’ve gotten it right in most cases, but I don’t feel Pearce is a good fit and there’s at least one questionable member of the leadership group.

Players and coaches voted on the leadership group this year.

 

[poshman]

Players and coaches voted on the leadership group this year.

My reading of it is the club - Bell and higher ups selected Pearce once the vote for the group was complete.

Disappointing result and terrible season. His body language on the weekend was petulant.

 

[Dockeroo]

I have hear the rumour from multiple sources that the club encouraged the selection of Pearce over Serong who was more popular with the players.
That’s just from various random freo fans at matches on a few different occasions but it’s happened enough different times now to make me think twice as to whether it’s true.
We will never really know as it’s a bit of a black box how the captain is picked. A bit like the AFLs formula for determining FA compensation picks. No way of knowing for sure.
Either way AP is goneski as captain next season.

 

[anchor man]

The players have got to stop selecting the captain and leadership group.

They’ve gotten it right in most cases, but I don’t feel Pearce is a good fit and there’s at least one questionable member of the leadership group.

They have it right, as you say in MOST cases, why would you bother wanting a different way to elect our skipper.
What method do you want?
Heaven help the club if they ever had the thought to allow our members, supporters to elect the skipper.

 

[freo1997]

There was a poster at the start of the year that said AP didn’t even want the captaincy and the club was twisting is arm to do it.

 

[King Tenz]

I have hear the rumour from multiple sources that the club encouraged the selection of Pearce over Serong who was more popular with the players.
That’s just from various random freo fans at matches on a few different occasions but it’s happened enough different times now to make me think twice as to whether it’s true.
We will never really know as it’s a bit of a black box how the captain is picked. A bit like the AFLs formula for determining FA compensation picks. No way of knowing for sure.
Either way AP is goneski as captain next season.

See from how I remember it went, each player voted for 5 players to be in the leadership group. Every player had voted for Pearce, Brayshaw and Serong to be in the leadership group. Then the coaches (and maybe higher ups too) get involved and pick a captain from the players votes.

 

[sumavich]

Well they made a mistake. They are pretty good at doing that.
Elite actually

 

[Dockeroo]

They have it right, as you say in MOST cases, why would you bother wanting a different way to elect our skipper.
What method do you want?
Heaven help the club if they ever had the thought to allow our members, supporters to elect the skipper.

There seems to be a lot of conjecture around how exactly the captain is selected however.
Pearce has fallen so far back from his best that right now, himself and hamling are not much different to be honest.
I think you can carry one guy that is not a very competent kick at AFL level in your back 7.
Cox, young, Chapman Clark are all fine.
Ryan has his critics but I still don’t think he’s an issue.
Walker has a serviceable kick at this level too. Even Wagner appears to be ok kicking.

Then we have Pearce and Hughes. Just not good enough at this critical skill.
Currently we have Hamling too so that’s 3/7 guys in the team that are state league standard at kicking the football. Only one of then can play next season. It’s probably Pearce TBH.

 

[s_wd6]

See from how I remember it went, each player voted for 5 players to be in the leadership group. Every player had voted for Pearce, Brayshaw and Serong to be in the leadership group. Then the coaches (and maybe higher ups too) get involved and pick a captain from the players votes.

That was my understanding too. Probably thought Brayshaw/Serong were too young and didn't want them to carry the burden + Pearce had plenty of experience in 2022.

 

[EastcoastDocker]

There seems to be a lot of conjecture around how exactly the captain is selected however.
Pearce has fallen so far back from his best that right now, himself and hamling are not much different to be honest.
I think you can carry one guy that is not a very competent kick at AFL level in your back 7.
Cox, young, Chapman Clark are all fine.
Ryan has his critics but I still don’t think he’s an issue.
Walker has a serviceable kick at this level too. Even Wagner appears to be ok kicking.

Then we have Pearce and Hughes. Just not good enough at this critical skill.
Currently we have Hamling too so that’s 3/7 guys in the team that are state league standard at kicking the football. Only one of then can play next season. It’s probably Pearce TBH.

Does anyone know if that time he broke his leg kicking the ball under no pressure at the MCG he did so by kicking the ground? Was awfully odd.

Ideally a captain can dominate a game regardless of position. Darcy Moore can dominate a game from defence. Pearce can dominate his opponent, like he did against 2m Peter, but can't dominate the broader game. Doesn't have the marking game or kicking for that.

 

[Kapow!!!]

It's almost like the majority of people, including lot of prominent posters on here, only viewed him as a transitional captain good for a couple of years until the actual best choices were a bit older...

If that was the rationale used by those capable of making the decision about captaincy and not just mug punters on a footy forum then it was always going to crash, burn and derail.

 

[pK75]

IMO Pearce is trying too hard to be captain, he’s often caught out directing traffic and trying to set up the defence and loses his direct opponent.
When you look at the rest of the leadership team, you have to ask if there’s something we are doing wrong with the mental side of it.
Switowski has been poor.
Young has stagnated
JOM has failed to meet expectations
Brayshaw has been down on last year
Pearce has been putrid
Only Serong is putting in the required leadership week to week to warrant the captaincy.
Clearly something is wrong with the group, I obviously have no idea what happens behind closed doors, but something isn’t working.

 

[arsesmart]

People, as long-time defenders generally get, are giving Pearce a pretty savage end of the stick. He's doing lots of good things, even while not having his best season. All players, ALL, have their ebbs and flows seasons.

The captaincy can be quite a weight that needs adjusting to (transitioning from a stand-in role to incumbent can be quite an adjustment too - see coaches).

Having said that, what I would like to see Pearce have is much more intent to destroy/attack the highball aerial contest.

So often he waits at the back of the pack, which is a bit criminal for a guy his size. I don't know if that's a (not very good) strategy thing, a lack of confidence or just not wanting to hurt people, but it's definitely cost us a few goals and allowed some opposition key talls to gain confidence from taking pack marks under favourable conditions.

Destroy Alex, Destroy.

 

[Lach72]

Eric Ten Hag has just told Harry McGuire he’s no longer captain at Manchester United.

I like it…mainly because the Slab is a complete shit truck and should be sold asap, but the manager recognised he was a shit captain…

I mean, there’s Bryan Robson, Steve Bruce and Roy Keane…then there’s McGuire

we need to take control.

 

[poshman]

People, as long-time defenders generally get, are giving Pearce a pretty savage end of the stick. He's doing lots of good things, even while not having his best season. All players, ALL, have their ebbs and flows seasons.

The captaincy can be quite a weight that needs adjusting to (transitioning from a stand-in role to incumbent can be quite an adjustment too - see coaches).

Having said that, what I would like to see Pearce have is much more intent to destroy/attack the highball aerial contest.

So often he waits at the back of the pack, which is a bit criminal for a guy his size. I don't know if that's a (not very good) strategy thing, a lack of confidence or just not wanting to hurt people, but it's definitely cost us a few goals and allowed some opposition key talls to gain confidence from taking pack marks under favourable conditions.

Destroy Alex, Destroy.

I agree with you last point - but disagree with him getting the rough end of things.

Tell me on form how many KPD's you would take Pearce over? How many No1 KPD would we choose him instead of the the oppo teams?

He has been terrible this season. I am not talking about a small drop off in absolute effectiveness. He has been poor. And his body language on the weekend was petulant.

He is missing opportunities to spoil, missing opportunities to kill contests for teammates running past contests to cover his own man. Which is worse than the one on one stuff as our structure is built on that as a foundation.

We have a bottom 5 KPD league wide as our captain... He is copping it a bit now. It is warranted and for someone who has been declining for a year now he has escaped it due to a honeymoon period. The weakness he carried into the season are being exasperated as he is no longer the stopper he was and as you mention he has stopped killing other contests as well. He should be dropped based on form.

He is a liability with ball in hand, which hinders our ball movement as the opposition doesn't have to plan for him. Similar to how a basketball defensive scheme doesn't have to worry about a player who can't shoot. Sag off them, deny the drive and invite the low percentage play. With AP you can sag off him, deny the run and invite the low percentage turn over play.

 

[arsesmart]

I agree with you last point - but disagree with him getting the rough end of things.

Tell me on form how many KPD's you would take Pearce over? How many No1 KPD would we choose him instead of the the oppo teams?

He has been terrible this season. I am not talking about a small drop off in absolute effectiveness. He has been poor. And his body language on the weekend was petulant.

He is missing opportunities to spoil, missing opportunities to kill contests for teammates running past contests to cover his own man. Which is worse than the one on one stuff as our structure is built on that as a foundation.

We have a bottom 5 KPD league wide as our captain... He is copping it a bit now. It is warranted and for someone who has been declining for a year now he has escaped it due to a honeymoon period. The weakness he carried into the season are being exasperated as he is no longer the stopper he was and as you mention he has stopped killing other contests as well. He should be dropped based on form.

He is a liability with ball in hand, which hinders our ball movement as the opposition doesn't have to plan for him. Similar to how a basketball defensive scheme doesn't have to worry about a player who can't shoot. Sag off them, deny the drive and invite the low percentage play. With AP you can sag off him, deny the run and invite the low percentage turn over play.

We can all have severe emotional reactions to defenders. This goes without exception to the deep defenders (Cox, Ryan, Walker, Pearce). The consequences are immediate obviously with lots of pressure, so the temple veins get throbbing in fans and elevates everything feels-wise (eg lots of definitive categorisation and extreme/B&W ratings).

As I said, not his best year, but my point was there are specifics that could be addressed, but along with that not thinking the brick-throwing is all that proportional.

 

[poshman]

We can all have severe emotional reactions to defenders. This goes without exception to the deep defenders (Cox, Ryan, Walker, Pearce). The consequences are immediate obviously with lots of pressure, so the temple veins get throbbing in fans and elevates everything feels-wise (eg lots of definitive categorisation and extreme/B&W ratings).

As I said, not his best year, but my point was there are specifics that could be addressed, but along with that not thinking the brick-throwing is all that proportional.

I agree with that - I think that the brick throwing is bad and that he should be dropped. He has been terrible for all but one or two games this season.

 

[Stronzo]

They have it right, as you say in MOST cases, why would you bother wanting a different way to elect our skipper.
What method do you want?
Heaven help the club if they ever had the thought to allow our members, supporters to elect the skipper.

Is the option of members voting for the captain the best you could come up with?

 

[anchor man]

Is the option of members voting for the captain the best you could come up with?

Only stating that we are not privvy to what goes on at club level. And also the fact that some posting here have absolutely NFI about footy.

 

[AAACockburn]

I saw he was on TV tonight with Richard Marles. I just put my hands on my hips and started shaking my head. IMO, he should be concentrating on captaining Fremantle and fixing his performances on the footy oval instead of leaning into politics. Maybe he was just there to ask Dick about defence tactics.

 

[King Tenz]

I saw he was on TV tonight with Richard Marles. I just put my hands on my hips and started shaking my head. IMO, he should be concentrating on captaining Fremantle and fixing his performances on the footy oval instead of leaning into politics. Maybe he was just there to ask Dick about defence tactics.

Who the hell is Richard Marles?

 

[BringBackTheAnchor]

Who the hell is Richard Marles?

Deputy PM