The Essendon defender, still only 21 years old but into his fourth season at AFL level, attacks the game with purpose. He crashes packs, evades tackles, pinpoints passes and revels in the physical aspects of the game. He's an instinctive footballer.
However, Pears' most natural intuition - to simply play footy - has been largely quelled in the past year.
After tearing his pancreas in round 13 last year against Hawthorn, Pears and the Essendon medical team decided he should undergo surgery on a troublesome foot injury which had plagued his AFL career.
Few would have predicted, though, that Pears would have to wait almost exactly a year to make his AFL return when Essendon met North Melbourne in round 13.
A motorbike accident as a 10-year-old left Pears with a piece of dead bone in his foot that had caused him pain through his football career.
The operation, Pears says, was a success, but after a long and frustrating rehabilitation period he was only cleared to play for the Bombers after two games in the VFL.
Now, Pears said, "It's just great to be back.
"I got drafted with a bit of a foot issue which actually got worse as I kept playing AFL, and as the demands got higher and we were training every day and I was playing senior games, my foot wasn't coping," he told afl.com.au in an exclusive interview.
"We thought that was a good time to go in and operate on that and try to get it fixed up. We always knew it was going to be a long rehab but we didn't realise the extent of the surgery and how long it was going to take. It ended up taking a lot longer," Pears said.
Throughout his recovery period, Pears suffered setbacks with stress fractures and stress reactions in areas of his foot that couldn't handle the workload after the serious operation. It made for a slower than expected return to senior football and also saw Pears correct his running technique.
"Because I'd carried the injury for so long, I almost used to limp when I trained and played, so it's more just about training my foot to not really limp. It was so I could go through a full motion in areas of my foot which haven't copped loads like that before," he explained.
"It's good now, it's all good."
They are comforting words for Essendon, and Pears' influence in his three senior games so far have highlighted his importance to the Bombers.
Against the Kangaroos, Pears lined-up against in-form forward Aaron Edwards. Against Hawthorn in round 14 he played on David Hale, and in last week's stunning four-point win over Geelong, Pears kept tabs on mid-sized Cats' forwards Daniel Menzel and Mitch Duncan.
Pears was most impressive in the last term against the Cats, with several critical spoils and rebounds helping clinch the upset victory. He says with each week he's feeling more comfortable back at the elite level.
"We were going through a bit of a tough time with five losses in a row, and that's never going to be nice, but to turn it around and keep our game style for four quarters was the main thing. It was a great feeling and we're all upbeat around the club at the moment," he said.
"My confidence is still growing. Twelve months out of the game is a long time and I'm still finding my feet but with every week and every quarter I'm starting to feel more comfortable and more at home.
"It took me a while to build up my confidence in other years when I was playing, and I started to believe that I belonged out there, and then you lose that. Now, it's just about getting it back, and that last quarter I just tried to do my job and play my role for the team and it seemed to work."
Pears, who was drafted from East Perth in with pick 23 in the 2007 NAB AFL Draft, will be a key plank of Essendon's future as it builds towards its next premiership.
In May, he underlined his commitment to the club by signing a two-year contract extension, tying him to Essendon until the end of 2013.
"Since I've been here I've loved every moment of it and I'm just really enjoying my time at Essendon and think we can do good things in the next couple of years," he said.
"I wanted to stick around and hopefully we can get all the boys to sign up and stay around for a bit of success."
A success Pears - fit, hungry, focused and keen to make up for lost time - will be central to.
Callum Twomey covers Essendon news for afl.com.au and essendonfc.com.au Follow him on Twitter at @Cal_Twomey
