I deserved Lyon spray: Pearce
Danyle Pearce says he finds Ross Lyon "scary" at times and labelled the spray he received from Fremantle's coach in the round-eight loss to Port Adelaide as the biggest of his career.
Pearce, 28, copped the full force of Lyon's wrath during a tense third term at Adelaide Oval earlier this month as the Power started to surge at the Dockers.
His decision to give off a looping handball rather than kick long caused a turnover, with his old club quickly transferring the ball to the other end, where Chad Wingard kicked his third goal.
Pearce arrived at the interchange bench straight after the clanger, only to be confronted by a fired-up Lyon, who had left the coaches' box to personally deliver a savage tongue lashing, which was captured on television.
Asked if it was the biggest spray he had received from a coach, Pearce said: "It is. But you know what? That's one of the reasons why I came to Fremantle.
"He'll wear his heart on his sleeve. He was scary to be honest - seeing the big fella down there.
"I was running off. Straight away I knew I'd made a mistake. It was just a stupid thing that he and I had spoken about that was addressed at half-time, and I made another mistake and it was the same one he'd mentioned."
Pearce will have a key role in tomorrow's clash with the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium.
The Dockers recalled Luke McPharlin for Matt de Boer (knee). The Bulldogs recalled Tom Williams, Mitch Wallis and Nathan Hrovat at the expense of Clay Smith (shoulder) and Brett Goodes and Jake Stringer, who were dropped.
In an exclusive interview with _The Weekend West _ to mark the AFL Indigenous Round, Pearce also:
·Said the lure of playing under Lyon and the security offered by a four-year deal were the reasons he joined Fremantle from Port Adelaide as a free agent;
·Revealed Lyon had travelled to his Adelaide home to help convince the 2006 Rising Star winner to sign;
·Described Michael Walters as his closest friend at the club and said they were neighbours;
·Said he had never doubted his decision to leave Port Adelaide, despite seeing "light at the end of the tunnel" when he departed at the end of 2012.
Pearce said he had initially been worried about how wife Tara and his two children Kyla, 6, and Jordan, 5, would cope with living so far away from their family in country South Australia.
"We did a lot of research and a lot of talking about what we wanted to do, what we wanted out of footy and out of life," Pearce said.
"A big selling point was playing for Ross, who at the time I saw as a big personality. You watch him on TV - he's a big, scary, intimidating bloke - and that's why I had the nerves before I first met him."
