SHOWDOWN Medal winner Danyle Pearce says his “head wasn’t 100 percent in it” during Port Adelaide’s disastrous start to 2008.

The 2006 Rising Star recipient struggled early in the season under some heavy attention from opposition teams, resulting in him being dropped after the round four loss to Brisbane.

Pearce says he had to get “back to basics” to earn back his spot in the Power side.

“I sat down with all the coaches and had a chat,” Pearce said after a three-goal, 24 possession game won him the best-on-ground award in Sunday’s 12-point win over the Adelaide Crows.

“I knew myself not everything was 100 percent right, so I just really had to get back to basics and concentrate on the little things first, and everything would evolve from that.

“It’s one-on-one for everyone out there, and you’ve just got to beat your man. Unfortunately the first half of the year wasn’t my best. My head wasn’t 100 percent in it, and I just hope I’ve turned that around in the second half of the year.”

Pearce, 22, missed only one week, playing with Sturt in the SANFL before winning his spot back. Along the way he’s spent plenty of time with assistant coaches Matthew Primus and Tony McGuinness and rediscovered the missing ingredient to success – hard work.

“(I have to) make sure I work hard and get to every contest I can, and just make sure I give 100 percent effort every game. You just want to have a consistent performance each week,” Pearce said.

Power coach Mark Williams says what Pearce went through was a good lesson for young players.

“He was disappointed to get dropped a couple of months ago, but it’s not like he spat the chewy or gave up. He went back and came back very determined to show he could produce,” Williams said.

“Every week won’t be like this. But he understands that what he had in the first year just doesn’t come easy, and that’s important for all young players to understand.

“It’s a really tough game and a lot of scrutiny comes to those who want to stand up and shine out. And you have to keep improving to stay ahead of the rest.”

Pearce won the Showdown Medal with 11 votes, leading home teammates Steven Salopek (nine votes), Daniel Motlop (seven) and Dom Cassisi (six).

Pearce says the Showdown win was emotional for Port after losing so many close matches at home (six losses by two goals or less this season).

“It’s fantastic to win a close one,” he said.

“It’s been six weeks, and the emotion in the change rooms was just amazing and a great feeling to have back.

“We don’t have time-machines, we can’t go back and change past results. But it’s good to see that we really stuck at it for four quarters today, and we’ll show that for the rest of the year.”