Alex Pearce is from Ulverstone, on Tasmania's north coast. His recently-inked contract extension with Fremantle takes him through to the end of 2027, precisely the moment the Tasmania Devils are slated to enter the AFL.
So these days, the 29-year-old Dockers skipper is ready to answer the inevitable question before it is even asked.
"My family's still in Tassie and a lot of my friends are still there, so I know what it will mean for the state, and I'm just so excited for them," he told ESPN at the AFL Captain's Day. "But I'm very conscious of what I can bring to Freo at the moment, and I want to be a big part of delivering us a premiership. So that's where my priorities are."
And why wouldn't they be? Because entering his third season as Freo captain and his 11th at senior level, the Dockers are as tantalizingly close to success as they've been in Pearce's career, certainly since his debut season of 2015, when they finished top of the ladder and played in a preliminary final.
Indeed, it was an injury to the key defender, who broke his arm twice late last season as the Dockers slumped from third spot to missing out on finals, which was crucial in the team's demise.
But Fremantle's credentials in 2025 are sound, to say the least. The Dockers were ranked fourth for fewest points conceded last season. A talented list still ranks only 11th in the AFL for age and 13th for experience. In midfield, the likes of Caleb Serong has only just turned 24, Hayden Young younger still.
Yes, Freo needs to score more, but former Richmond tyro Shai Bolton (himself still just 26) is an exciting addition to the mix in that regard. Luke Jackson won't turn 25 until two days after this year's Grand Final, and key forwards Jye Amiss and Josh Treacy barely have 100 games between them.
"The big thing last year was our key position players taking a step forward," Pearce says. "Clearly Josh Treacy was a big improver, Jye really improve as well, and Luke Jackson's best footy is ahead of him.
"In the backline, myself, Brennan Cox and Luke Ryan never played together last year, so I'm looking forward to that, and our young mids are not so young anymore. Guys like Caleb and Andy (Brayshaw) and Youngy are starting to become really dominant players in the competition, so I think we've now got enough experience and enough leadership to carry us through."
Pearce says the level of expectation surrounding Fremantle externally is no greater than the club is placing upon itself. Fuelled in part not just by those solid foundations, not to mention the fact the Dockers lost six games in 2024 by 13 points or less, but the bitter sting of bottling a finals spot that was theirs for the taking.
"I think we showed last year that our best footy's good enough to match it with the best teams, and that was reflected in where we were sitting with about a month to go," he says.
"To finish the way we did was incredibly disappointing and showed that we're not quite there yet. But we've had some clear focuses over the pre-season to improve on. I think the mindset we've returned with is the mindset that we don't want to be just thereabouts, we want to really compete (for a top spot) and have that as our goal and expectation.
"One of the big things which let us down was just some situational awareness and having the experience to close out big games and make the right plays at the right time. We've spoken a lot about that, and I think the more experienced you get, the more you realise that the game requires different things at different times.
"You have to be able to adapt on the run, and I feel like we're starting to build that capacity that within games we can adapt and make decisions on the field rather than based on what our plan was heading in or waiting for the coach to give us some guidance at half time. I think that's really important."
A bit like that game ... Pearce starts smiling ruefully even before we finish the sentence and THAT fateful final centre bounce against Essendon in Round 21 last season is mentioned, the Dons sweeping forward with seconds remaining to kick the winning score.
Had the Dockers protected the defensive side of the stoppage adequately that Sunday afternoon, they would have played finals. "Yep, absolutely, it's just those moments," Pearce says. "I was actually talking to Zach (Essendon skipper Zach Merrett) about that just before.
"It's about making sure that when we kick that goal to level the scores, the leader are getting together across the whole field, so everyone knows exactly what's needed. There might be the odd moment where we don't get it done, but hopefully more often than not this season we can right that ship."
An appropriate analogy for a team representing a town on a port. And while he might be a Tasmanian, captain Pearce has been part of the furniture at Freo for so long now he'd be as big a local hero as any mere Sandgroper should the Dockers finally get it all right in 2025.
You can read more of Rohan Connolly's work at FOOTYOLOGY.