Daisy Pearce | Hall of Famer & West Coast AFLW Coach (15.09.2026)

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Honey, what are you listening to? Mom!

SPEAKER_2 (0:03)

Your teen might not share everything with you, but teens share everything with each other. And certain everyday behaviors, like sharing food, drinks or kisses, could mean sharing bacteria that can cause meningococcal disease known as meningitis.

Although meningitis is uncommon, about one in 10 who develop it will die. Ask your teen's doctor about missing meningitis vaccinations. Learn more at meningitis.com. Vaccination may not protect all recipients. Sponsored by GSK.

SPEAKER_3 (0:31)

Glimmer, the new eau de parfum by Estee Lauder. An amber floral fragrance with a gourmand twist. With notes of macaroon rose accord, amber embrace accord, and shimmering patchouli.

A glimmer is a small, unexpected moment of joy that shifts your energy and how you feel. A scent to be felt, remembered and shared. Discover more at esteelauder.com. What makes you Glimmer?

Mark Duffield (0:59)

Welcome back to the SCNWA studio out here at Optus Stadium. Tuesday morning in Perth, 20.4 degrees outside, a top of 27 later in the day.

Well, the West Coast AFLW team got their first win of the season on the board against Brisbane on the weekend. It was a great win out there at Mineral Resources Park. They bolted out to a clear lead. The Lions came at them late, but they hung on to get the points. Our coach, Daisy Pearce, joins us on the show. Daisy, welcome.

Daisy Pearce (1:30)

Hey, Duff. How are you? Thanks for having me on.

Mark Duffield (1:33)

No worries. Congratulations on the win. It must have felt nice to get the first one out of the way this season.

Daisy Pearce (1:39)

Yeah, it was definitely nice to get a result. I think, you know, the last couple of weeks we've been building and we've definitely improved, but nothing like a win to sort of ratify the evidence to know that, yeah, we're doing some things right. It was a disappointing start to our season, but the players and the programs worked really hard to get after the things that we needed to get better at and we'll keep doing that, but definitely good to get some energy off, being able to sing the song.

Mark Duffield (2:07)

So winning does amazing things for the mentality of the group. It builds momentum and confidence, and losing can have the opposite effect. So you had this game, it felt like under control, and then they came at you pretty hard. They tapped into a lot of experience and a lot of know-how, and what were you thinking up in the coach's box late when they closed right up?

Daisy Pearce (2:30)

Well, yeah, having had some good battles with Brisbane as a player and coach now, you know that they're going to play 80 minutes. I think it's been one of the big parts of their core is just how hard working and fit they are. So you got to play the full game, and we knew that. But yeah, it was hard, like our young group, and then having Abby Bushby down since early in the game, meant we were rotation short and had to do a bit of stretching in our midfield. So there was a little bit of just how do we keep energy on the game in that last quarter. But yeah, I thought we did some really good things in our late game strategy, but there'll be some good learnings as well. And they're a gift when you get to come away with four points and some in game experience as to how to manage those, save the game situation. So we'll go after that this week, and it'll be an invaluable experience for us.

Mark Duffield (3:20)

Was there a key moment late in the game involving one of your young players, Daisy, that you'll be able to point to them about something that they did that held you up and help get you the win?

Daisy Pearce (3:33)

Yeah, well, I thought throughout the whole game, actually, it was probably the best time we've ever been able to manage the momentum and the tempo of the game, not just in the dying stages, which always draws the most attention because the result is close. But I thought at times in the back end of the second, when we looked a bit fatigued, and during the third quarter, when they had some momentum, I thought we made some really good decisions. And it's not always big moments, but just little things like, you know, Ella Roberts deciding not to open up the game when an option was on on the open side and just keeping it a little bit skinny so that we could defend it and not give them the space that they wanted to attack into. So sometimes it's big moments like big goal-saving marks from your plus one behind the ball. But the thing that I actually like to see was little decisions like Kayla Delglish just finding a mark with Kelly Gibson at the top of the 50 so that you do have the opportunity to go back and reset the ground. So there were just lots of little micro moments like that that I thought showed growth. And then some little moments that had me holding my breath because we did the opposite. So, you know, it was good to get away with it, but yeah, we'll review it and it'll be some great lessons.