MELBOURNE captain Daisy Pearce has launched a passionate defence of Tayla Harris and admits she would love to reunite with the high-profile forward at the Demons.
The high-marking, big kicking Harris is searching for her third NAB AFLW club after Carlton baulked at a demand for a new lucrative offer to remain with the Blues.
Many of the League's 14 clubs have already ruled out pursuing Harris, but Melbourne remain in the hunt to land her during the Sign and Trade Period.
If Harris does switch to the Demons, it would be a homecoming, of sorts, for the 24-year-old.
When she was still a teenager, Harris played with Pearce at Melbourne during women's exhibition matches before the launch of AFLW.
They have remained close since and Pearce empathises with the situation Harris finds herself in.
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"I think her football value's huge," Pearce told SEN.
"She's played five seasons of AFLW and she's a three-time All Australian.
"She didn't have her best season and Tayla would probably be the first to admit it, but I think there would be lots of people in footy and life who didn't have their best year last year.
"I'd be pretty excited at the thought of playing alongside her because of the player she is but also because of the phase of her life she's coming into.
"I catch up with Tayla every now and then and jump on the phone as we have in the last couple of weeks as she's gone through this, and then again when Melbourne got mentioned (as a potential destination).
"Everything that I've had to do with Tayla and the conversations that I've had I've seen no indication that money is her biggest driving factor, she wants to get her footy back to where it was and where it can be."
Pearce is likely to continue playing with Melbourne next year, despite a serious knee injury ruling her out of last season's finals series.
At 33 and the mother of young twins, Pearce concedes it is an "all-family affair" for her to play in the AFLW.
"It's an exciting team (at Melbourne) and we feel like we were pretty close last year ... I kind of want to hang on a bit longer," Pearce said.
