Congratulations to Jack Pierce who will play in their 100th game this weekend!
JP plays his 100th game this week and what a ride it has been. I’ve had the pleasure of watching Jack’s football career evolve from playing as a key forward in his junior days to being reinvented as a lockdown defender and more recently trying his hand in the midfield.
On field Jack’s a strong leader, often playing a general type role down back directing his team mates. His instruction and football IQ are invaluable, especially when playing with less experienced players.
A highlight that comes to mind would be watching him sneak forward from full back to kick the game winning snag against Ormond a few years ago. Not a bad goal either.
It was also nice to see him venture out of the back 50 and get some midfield minutes over the past couple seasons, however I think it’s done irreparable damage to his almost 30 year old body as shown by two hamstring strains in about 4 weeks last year.
Something I’ve admired about Jack is his dedication. If you were to tell me 5 years ago that Jack would complete a half marathon, and be able to run 10km at about 4:30 pace I’d laugh in your face. He’s certainly come along way from the big JP we knew pre covid and it’s a massive credit to his work ethic.
As both of our footballing careers are slowly coming to an end I’m extremely grateful for getting the opportunity to play with Jack, you won’t find a more loyal bloke and I always felt invincible playing alongside him. He’s a strong leader and someone I’ve always looked up to being his younger brother. Although he’d run me out of sight and moves more kgs in the weight room, he’s still the second best footy player in the family. Go well this weekend mate and go the eagles.
Darcy Pierce
Congratulations to Jack “Chewman” Pierce on playing his 100th game.
It is an absolute pleasure to be able to do this write-up to celebrate a milestone that many thought would never come. However, those who doubted him clearly don’t know the heart of this man.
I have had the privilege of playing with Jack since our school days. The Jack I played with then was slightly more solid-framed, playing as a bustling Centre Half-Forward of our Year 8B team, splitting open packs and clunking marks.
We continued our football journey together when we moved to play Under 19s in 2017. To be fair to Jack, he probably wasn’t the coach’s favourite throughout the Under 19s era, however, Abes obviously trusted him enough to drop Jack and send him to do opposition analysis instead of allowing Jack to watch his own teammates play. However, Jack was always ready to step up when called upon to play his role, which has been a constant feature of his career.
For those who don’t know, Jack suffered a serious broken leg during our second preseason at the club. While he toyed with the idea of retirement after a few years off, Jack came back in fine form, winning the Thirds Best and Fairest in 2021.
From there, Jack became a mainstay of the Reserves backline. Jack began to flourish and showed his leadership skills, helping to work with the younger members of the team. Jack showed he is a cool head under pressure, being our first choice for kick-ins for the year.
More recently, Jack had been enjoying playing Thirds with his brother, Darcy. But anyone who watched those Thirds games would have seen Jack still showing that touch of class and great leadership skills, setting up the field and keeping people accountable. You would have also seen him being the ultimate teammate, playing whatever role is needed, which has even included spending some time as an inside mid.
While he had played the odd Reserves game over the last couple of seasons in a break glass in case of emergency style of selection, this season has seen Jack return to being a regular feature in the Reserves side.
Jack is a great clubman and exactly the kind of person you want around the footy club. He has relationships with all players, across all levels, and always has time for everyone he interacts with. Some of my favourite memories of the club have been sitting in rooms with Jack enjoying a win, usually accompanied by Big Z and Greg Loucas.
It’s been a long ride, with some setbacks along the way, a few sniped hammys and a couple hospital handballs, but this club is a better place for having you play 100 games here.
Go well on the weekend, Chew! Hope you can celebrate another win.
Matt Kenna
