Brad Pearce (born 16 August 1971) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played for

Carlton Carlton may refer to: People * Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname * Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy * Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...

and the

Brisbane Bears The Brisbane Football Club, nicknamed the Bears, was a professional Australian rules football club based in Queensland on the Gold Coast (relocated to Brisbane in 1993). The club participated in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/A ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL). Pearce played both football and cricket as a junior, and after having focussed on cricket in 1987, where he played for the Victorian schoolboy team he returned to football in 1988 as part of the junior system, playing in the Victorian Under-17

Teal Cup The AFL Under-19 Championships (for sponsorship reasons, the NAB AFL Under-19 Championships) is an annual Australian national underage representative championship in Australian rules football tournament. It is seen as one of the main pathways ...

team. He played with the St Kilda minor grades from 1988 until 1990, but injuries interrupted his progress to the senior grade for the club. In 1992, he played in the TFL Statewide League for the

South Launceston Football Club The South Launceston Football Club is an Australian rules football club currently competing in the Northern Tasmanian Football Association. They were formed through a merger between City-South and East Launceston in 1986, clubs in the former ...

, where impressive performances in the forward-line attracted the attention of AFL recruiters. He was drafted by the

in the 1992 mid-season draft, and played two senior matches due to a nasty groin injury for the club in 1993 before being delisted at the end of the year. Pearce was then recruited by Carlton with its second-round selection in the 1994 pre-season draft. He played only two senior games in his first season, before enjoying a break-out season in 1995, at the age of 24. Playing as a fast-leading forward pocket, Pearce provided Carlton's forward-line with variety and an alternative avenue to goal to long-time full forward

Stephen Kernahan Stephen Scott Kernahan (born 1 September 1963) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) and for the Glenelg Football Club in the South Australian National Football ...

, and he played 23 of 25 possible games for the season, kicked 52 goals, and kicked four goals in Carlton's

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

victory against .His speed was what this great football club needed and it's what he delivered. As a youngster, Pearce's speed was exemplary, cracking the 11 second barrier as a 17-year-old. Pearce played for Carlton for a further four seasons, playing an average of thirteen games per season interrupted by a range of injuries. A ruptured patella injury prevented Pearce from greatness at a time when he was dominating AFL. He retired at the end of the 1999 season, having played 77 games and kicked 151 goals over six seasons for the club. Had it not been for injuries, Pearce's legacy would have been much greater. Carlton fans though, hold him in great esteem as he was the speed that was required for the 1995 flag that the club was lacking.

Statistics

:Brad Pearce's player profile at AFL Tables
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1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 13 , , 2 , , 1 , , 1 , , 6 , , 3 , , 9 , , 1 , , 0 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 3.0 , , 1.5 , , 4.5 , , 0.5 , , 0.0 , , 0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 19 , , 2 , , 0 , , 1 , , 6 , , 2 , , 8 , , 4 , , 0 , , 0.0 , , 0.5 , , 3.0 , , 1.0 , , 4.0 , , 2.0 , , 0.0 , , 0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" , style="text-align:center;background:#afe6ba;",

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

† , style="text-align:center;", , 19 , , 23 , , 52 , , 40 , , 205 , , 50 , , 255 , , 104 , , 26 , , 2.3 , , 1.7 , , 8.9 , , 2.2 , , 11.1 , , 4.5 , , 1.1 , , 4 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 19 , , 15 , , 35 , , 24 , , 115 , , 26 , , 141 , , 58 , , 12 , , 2.3 , , 1.6 , , 7.7 , , 1.7 , , 9.4 , , 3.9 , , 0.8 , , 0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 19 , , 11 , , 16 , , 14 , , 84 , , 16 , , 100 , , 44 , , 7 , , 1.5 , , 1.3 , , 7.6 , , 1.5 , , 9.1 , , 4.0 , , 0.6 , , 0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 19 , , 14 , , 32 , , 22 , , 110 , , 17 , , 127 , , 51 , , 7 , , 2.3 , , 1.6 , , 7.9 , , 1.2 , , 9.1 , , 3.6 , , 0.5 , , 2 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 19 , , 12 , , 16 , , 12 , , 60 , , 10 , , 70 , , 38 , , 5 , , 1.3 , , 1.0 , , 5.0 , , 0.8 , , 5.8 , , 3.2 , , 0.4 , , 0 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 79 ! 152 ! 114 ! 586 ! 124 ! 710 ! 300 ! 57 ! 1.9 ! 1.4 ! 7.4 ! 1.6 ! 9.0 ! 3.8 ! 0.7 ! 6

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pearce, Brad 1971 births Living people Carlton Football Club players Carlton Football Club premiership players Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Brisbane Bears players South Launceston Football Club players Burnie Dockers Football Club players VFL/AFL premiership players People from Springvale, Victoria