Alex Pearce chases history as Fremantle's Grand Final captain

Fremantle captain Alex Pearce will lead the Dockers into the AFL Grand Final at the MCG with history on the line. Win, and he becomes the club's first-ever premiership captain.

Fremantle entered the league in 1995 and has never won the men's flag. The Dockers booked this year's decider — the one game that decides the season's premiers — with a preliminary final win over Sydney at the SCG, as reported by ABC.

Pearce is a 200-centimetre key defender. That means he plays deep in defence on the opposition's tallest forwards, where marking and spoiling decide contests.

His story starts in Tasmania's north-west. He was born on June 9, 1995, at North West Regional Hospital in Burnie to parents Scott and Karen Pearce, and raised in Ulverstone. He identifies as a Palawa man.

The delivery doctor on that day was midwife Ruth Forrest. She is now the independent member for Murchison in Tasmania's upper house.

Pearce was taken by Fremantle with pick 37 in the 2013 national draft. His early career stalled when he fractured his leg twice and did not play for almost two years.

He fought back to become a mainstay in defence. He is now in his fourth season as Fremantle captain, with Andrew Brayshaw and Caleb Serong as co-vice-captains. He played his 150th AFL game in Round 15 against Geelong this season.

If the Dockers win their maiden flag, the cup will be handed over by Shaun McManus. McManus is an inaugural Fremantle player and club pioneer, named by the AFL as the cup presenter for a Fremantle win, according to the AFL.

For fans, this means a simple equation. Fremantle has waited three decades for a premiership. Pearce, the long-injured draftee turned captain from Ulverstone, gets the first chance to lift it.