AFTER putting in over a decade of blood, sweat and tears for the Orange Tigers club, Nathan Pearce is the man you talk to when looking to shine a touch of perspective on the club’s 2014 Central West AFL premiership triumph.
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And the now dual premiership winning mentor rates Saturday’s 58-point thumping of the Bathurst Bushrangers as “special” as any victory he’s seen in 15 years bleeding black and gold.
“I’ve been around for a while and we were able to get some of the old life members down here and to win at home, last time we did that was back in 2002,” Pearce said following Saturday’s grand final victory at Country Club Oval, claimed thanks to a 19.14 (128) to 10.10 (70) score line.
“It was important, not only for the team but from the club point of view to really get out here and have a crack.”
Settling the nerves after a torrid opening term from the visitors, the Tigers clinched consecutive flags for the first time in 16 years thanks to a superb second quarter effort.
Easily the best team throughout the regular season having dropped just the one game back in round two, Pearce’s men now have the unique opportunity to become the first top grade team at Tigerland to claim three CWAFL premierships in succession in 2015.
But Pearce, inducted as a life member of the club after last season’s drought-breaking grand final win over Bathurst, would, for now at least, prefer to soak up this year’s triumph before ramping up preparations for another title defence next winter.
“You put in a lot of hard work in the club,” he said. “I’ve been here for 15 years now and seen the club at the bottom, and to now finally see it back-to-back premierships, it’s just awesome. And to be able to coach it was unbelievable.
“Where we go next year is completely different, we’ll just enjoy this now.
“It’s an absolutely fantastic day.”
