Danyle Pearce

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**Danyle Pearce**
Personal Info
Birth	April 7, 1986,
Recruited from	Sturt
Height/Weight	177cm / 77kg
Playing Career¹
Debut	Round 16, July 31, 2005, Port Adelaide vs. North Melbourne Football Club, at Manuka Oval
Team(s)	Port Adelaide Football Club (2005-present) 29 games, 18 goals
¹ Statistics to end of 2006 season
Career Highlights
Port Adelaide Football Club Best First Year Player 2005 AFL Rising Star 2006 International Rules Series 2006

Danyle Pearce (born 7 April 1986) is an Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League. He is of Aboriginal descent.

Pearce played for Sturt prior to his AFL debut. Danyle also represented South Australia in basketball, as a point guard.

He made his AFL debut in Round 18, 2005 for the Port Adelaide Power. He was named Best First Year Player for the Power in 2005 and nominated in round 3, 2006 for the AFL Rising Star award.

Pearce won the 2006 NAB Rising Star with 43 votes out of a possible 45. Second place for this award was Andrew Raines with 35. This made Pearce become the first former rookie-listed player to win the award^[1]. In his speech, Pearce said "My kneecaps were shaking" and "I loved the free feed".

Pearce also won the Gavin Wanganeen Medal, being the first to receive the newly created 2006 award, for best up and coming rising star at the Port Adelaide Football Club. He received 13 votes in the 2006 Brownlow Medal despite being his team's youngest player.

Pearce suffers from short-sightedness and has worn contact lenses since 2005.