AFL great’s comment re-ignites ugly controversy around Daisy Pearce

Dermott Brereton has re-ignited the ugly debate around Daisy Pearce. Image: Getty

Dermott Brereton has re-ignited the debate around Daisy Pearce’s role on Channel 7’s AFL commentary team, stating he believes Wayne Carey is the better analyst.

Pearce found herself at the centre of controversy earlier this month when AFL icon Rex Hunt took aim at Channel 7’s decision to replace Carey with Pearce on Friday night football.

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Carey has been bumped to the Saturday night role in 2022, with Pearce featuring on the ratings-leading Friday night timeslot instead.

While some suggested it was a demotion for Carey, the North Melbourne great said it was a ‘mutual decision’.

“My kids do Friday night sport after school, so it was just something I thought was a really good change for me,” he told Triple M radio in February.

“It’s been an ongoing discussion for quite some time and a mutual decision and one that at the end of the day if it couldn’t be worked out then it wouldn’t have happened.

“I was more than happy to go to Saturday nights and really looking forward to the change in my week.”

But Hunt sparked controversy last week with a pot shot at Channel 7’s decision to replace Carey with Pearce – a three-time All-Australian and captain of the Melbourne Demons’ AFLW team.

Hunt – who played 202 matches in the VFL with Richmond, Geelong and St Kilda – suggested the move was all about ‘equal genders’.

And Brereton, a commentator on Fox Footy, has now re-ignited the debate.

Wayne Carey speaks to Tom Hawkins before the Geelong Cats’ clash with Melbourne Demons. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

According to the Herald Sun, the Hawthorn champion wrote on social media: “Gender quotas aside, side-by-side against Daisy for football analysis, Wayne is by far the better analyst.”

He also told the publication: “Rex Hunt is a legend.

“So often the common comeback is you are a middle-aged, white, Anglo-Saxon male who played in a male-dominated field and now you are threatened by a female.

“Honestly it is such a flimsy argument, I am not threatened by anyone. If you tell the truth to how you see it, then you have nothing to worry about.

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“Daisy is a very competent commentator, but she is not Wayne Carey. So I can understand where Rex was coming from. He just didn’t quite annunciate it in a 2022 qualified fashion.”

Rex Hunt (R) with Kevin Sheedy at the MCG in 2017. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

Responding to a Facebook post from friend John Locco, Hunt wrote: “The air conveyance scientist who gave Carey the lemon to Saturday night and gave Daisy… a wonderful lass, the main gig on Fridays is a gun.

“He.. I assume… was forced into such a weak gutted sit down and piss decision by pressure to have equal genders everywhere.

“We… you and I, came from an era that is only a memory now. Tough… relentless football. The game is a robotic, pre planned…. keeping’s off affair.

“The do-gooders have won. Give me a week as Chief Commissioner John and I guarantee these bastards would not even think about looking sideways at law abiding citizens.

“Let alone roaming the streets. I probably don’t have the CV to say this … but I will.

Channel 7 stars Abbey Gelmi, Hamish McLachlan, Abbey Holmes, Daisy Pearce and Brian Taylor at the 2022 Logie Awards. (Photo by Sam Tabone/WireImage)

“After 200 games on the field and over 2000 in the box …. broadcasting box that is … Wayne Carey to my mind is the best qualified comments man alongside Lethal (Leigh Matthews).

“Call me a fossil or whatever. But our game has been ruined by people who are making rules to appease soft penises. For gods sake… give us some biff.

“Give us some spice. And Daisy… just let Carey say a few words… please.

“If I had one bloke to play for my life… The Ducks him. I want Carey to talk about that rough brave play.”

Hunt then doubled-down when contacted by the Herald Sun about the comments.

“I’m glad that people are talking, I had to say it,” he said.

“Daisy is terrific and she’ll go coaching and I understand you’ve got to have a lady there but which bright spark at Channel 7 thought to get rid of (Carey) – he or she is wrong.”

The controversy has sparked an outpouring of support for Pearce on social media.

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