Alex Pearce on verge of AFL premiership captaincy as Fremantle eyes first flag

If Fremantle wins the AFL premiership, the year 1995 will not only be known as the year the Dockers entered the AFL.

It'll be known as the birth year of the club's first-ever premiership captain.

Ruth Forrest was not only there on June 9, 1995, at the North West Regional Hospital in Burnie — she was the midwife who delivered Alex Pearce into the world.

"And when you hold these babies in your hand after they're born, there's just this unlimited potential in every child."

Thirty-three years later, Pearce stands on the doorstep of football immortality.

Ms Forrest, who Tasmanians know as the independent member for Murchison in the state's upper house, has kept tabs on Pearce since he was a newborn.

"He's just this genuine, inspirational leader. That's what he is," she said.

"To see him grow up into that, it must be huge pride for his family, and I share a tiny bit of that."

Young Alex wanted to play cricket at the MCG

Forrest may have delivered Pearce, but it was parents Scott and Karen who raised him on the coast, in the cradle of Tasmanian sport.

Mum and sister Georgia were star equestrian riders, while Dad was a gun cricketer for Ulverstone.

He still umpires and administers the regional competition, while Uncle Jason remains as president of the Ulverstone Cricket Club.

For young Alex, cricket was the great constant.

"I played my last game of cricket ever with Alex, in a second grade grand final," Scott said.

But footy was in the blood too.

Grandfather, Wayne Pearce, was a goal machine for the Ulverstone Robins in the 1960s.

"It's funny how things work out. He's now going to play at the MCG in a grand final as captain of an AFL team, so he got there in the end."

Scott still has to remind himself that his son is indeed on the brink of becoming an AFL premiership captain — a title he never thought Alex would hold.

"Christ, no," he said.

"We knew he had some ability as a junior; he had a growth spurt, played one year with the Tassie Mariners. He didn't play too bad."

"But he wasn't a standout player. He was okay," he said.

Out of nowhere, Pearce, who stands 200 centimetres, was drafted to the Dockers at pick 37 in 2013.

From there, he flourished, and the traits that would see him named Dockers captain began to blossom — loyalty, justice and trademark north-west coast resilience that was tested when he fractured his leg twice and didn't play for almost two years.

He forged a connection with a number of Fremantle's First Nations players and began to explore and celebrate his own identity as a Palawa man.

It's a pursuit that his dad is particularly proud of, and that inspired him to delve into his own ancestry.

"It's something I need to do more of, but I'm glad that I've looked into a little bit of it so far," he said.

"As a rule, you didn't look too much into that in years gone by, when I was a kid and in early adulthood.

Ulverstone painting the town purple

Then came the confidence, and the individuality.

During COVID, Pearce decided to grow his hair out and pierce his own nose.

Scott said he "doesn't care much about that stuff" — but that he took the news of the piercing "better than his mother did".

Scott's job requires him to be on the road, hopping between Ulverstone, Devonport and Burnie.

His shifts run a little longer, due to locals bailing him up to talk footy, cricket and Alex.

It's indicative of a region where town rivalries are put aside when a coastal son or daughter succeeds.

"We're a footy family and we know Alex personally," Kim Smith, owner of Urban Surf and Co in Ulverstone, said.

Local real estate agent Jakub Lehman is on board too.

"That's what small communities are there for," he said.

The entire coast is aware of the history that Pearce stands to create if the Dockers defeat Brisbane.

He'd become the third-ever Tasmanian premiership captain, behind the iconic Darrel Baldock and Royce Hart.

And he'd also become the first-ever First Nations-identifying premiership captain.

But to his family, he will still just be Alex — or "Moose".

"That's probably one of the great traits," his dad said.

"He hasn't changed. He hasn't got ahead of himself or anything like that"