Alex Pearce knows what it's like to be unable to play the game he loves, but nothing could prepare him for what he's experiencing right now.
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The Fremantle leader from Ulverstone on Wednesday said he was embracing the challenge of living in isolation after electing to stay in Western Australia rather than return to Tasmania once the AFL season was suspended due to COVID-19.
It's a solo home life for the 24-year-old in Fremantle after his housemate moved out after players went into self-isolation before round one, but having previously waiting 672 days between games after breaking his leg in 2016, there is some familiarity for him when it comes to being restricted from playing duties for him to draw on.
"There are strategies I have used before when the thing I have most wanted to be doing I can't be doing (which will help), but this is obviously different circumstances,'' Pearce said.
"For me the ability to stay in a good routine and get to the end of my day and week and say I've been able to tick off a few things, to say I've done some study and I've done some training and continued to maintain relationships with teammates and stay in contact with family, they are my big bucket list items."
After the first week or two were tough, Pearce said he was now "in a pretty good place".
"I'm adapting to the way that life is for everyone right now by finding new ways to get training done, stay fit and prepare for when the season does kick off again,'' the key defender said.
"I briefly considered coming back, but because Tassie closed its borders quite quickly I knew I would have to self-isolate, so staying here it would be easier to get some training done and set things up a bit better.
"If I could move all my training equipment back to Ulverstone I'd probably do that right now, but if I did go back, I still can't go out and live a normal life or do what I normally like to do when I go back home and catch up with everyone, and I'd have to stay away from my grandparents, which would be hard."
Pearce, who has played 53 games for Fremantle after being selected with the 37th pick in the 2013 national draft, said the "most devastating" part of the whole situation was seeing the amount of staff the club had been forced to stand down
The shutdown also put the brakes on Pearce's return to the game following two lots of surgery on the left ankle he fractured last season.
"I was tracking very well actually,'' he said.
"I'd had a couple of weeks of training with the team and I was really eyeing off a return to AFL football in round two, given a couple of rule changes with shortened quarters which were playing in my favour.
"I was really putting my hand up to play that second game, so I'll have to wait a little bit for that, but from a physical point of view I am in a really good spot having been able to continue my running and do some form of training.
"As soon as we get the all clear to come back, I'll be back."