THE TALENT on West Coast's young list after four years of development was enough to convince AFLW icon Daisy Pearce that Perth is the right place to launch her senior coaching career as the Eagles announced the bombshell appointment on Monday.
In what was hailed as one of the biggest coups in the Eagles' history, Pearce was announced as the club's fourth senior coach after five AFLW seasons, creating a wave of excitement through the entire club on Monday.
Pearce had been a priority signing for West Coast after parting ways with their coach of the past three seasons, Michael Prior, with the club pursuing her heavily in what outgoing chief executive Trevor Nisbett said was a "no-brainer" appointment for the Eagles.
A room full of staff and AFLW players attended Pearce's media conference at Mineral Resources Park on Monday, when the Melbourne premiership captain and three-time All-Australian said she was "all in" as the club's new coach.
"I see it as an incredible opportunity to come over here and work for one of the biggest clubs in the land. The talent that is on this list is probably what excited me first and foremost," Pearce said.
"I've watched this competition really closely and the Eagles are a team that haven't performed as they would have liked ... but with the talent on the list I think there's a really exciting future ahead. I was really keen to be a part of it.
"I see the work that we need to do (but) there's no massive environmental factors that we can't shift, so it's over to us. It's over to me as a coach and us as a coaching group and the talent we've got on the list to start closing that gap and getting after it. That challenge excites me."
Pearce will move to Perth after launching her coaching career as an AFL development coach under Chris Scott at Geelong, and she conceded a move into senior coaching at this point was not something she had been actively seeking.
The Eagles launched a successful bid to lure Pearce west, however, with the champion player and her young family excited by a new adventure.
"We're all in. Roy and Sylvie, they're four and up for any adventure, and Ben my partner has always backed me in and been super supportive, which I'm grateful for. He's excited for the move and the opportunity it presents us as a family as well," Pearce said.
"As is the case in footy clubs, they'll get me, but they'll get my family as well. We're looking forward to that. We haven't nailed down exact move dates, but we've got work to do and I want to get over here and get stuck into it as soon as possible, so it will happen pretty quickly."
Pearce, who has forged a path as a respected and popular analyst on Channel 7, said she would work through the notion of continuing her role in the media with the Eagles and the network, both of which had been "incredibly supportive".
As a first-time senior coach, the 35-year-old conceded she was not the finished product and would arrive with plenty to learn.
Focusing on the fundamentals of the game will be the new coach's initial focus, as well as prioritising contested possession, which Pearce said proved vital through the most recent AFLW finals.
"I've gotten to the point where I have enough confidence in the strengths that I will bring that it'll be enough for us to get started," she said.
"With a bit of hard work and an open mind and a willingness to learn and a passion for doing it, we'll get after the really important things early on and then work the rest out as we go.
"As far as exactly how we're going to play, I think that will evolve. I've got a lot of ideas, but they're not something I'm going to come in and apply to this team. I want to get in here and get to know this group and get a better understanding of the strengths they have, and then adjust my ideas about footy and how it should be played according to the strengths of this team."
Nisbett, who will hand the reigns to new CEO Don Pyke early next year, described Pearce's appointment as a "vote of confidence for our program and the girls who are playing at our club".
"We think it's a really important step forward," Nisbett said. "The program has been a developmental program to start with, and now we're at that stage where we're moving forward and moving forward quickly."