Pears was one of Bendigo’s best players last Sunday in the loss to Williamstown and will need to be firing again when the Bombers head to Coburg to take on the Tigers this Sunday.
Pears debuted against the Western Bulldogs in Round 4 and played against St Kilda and then in the ANZAC Day clash at the MCG against Collingwood in a big month of football for the first year player.
Bendigo Coach Adrian Hickmott highlighted the good performances on the weekend of several local Bendigo players as well as Pears who he has seen continue develop in the short period of time he has been with Essendon.
“I was happy with Rhys Magin last week and what Pears does is he just works really hard all day, and just never gives up,” Hickmott said.
Bendigo has been well served by the ability of on ball and defensive duo Stewart Crameri and Blair Holmes to win contested football around the ground and Hickmott has been full of praise for the local boys all season.
“Both boys have been going well. They set themselves apart by training really hard and pushing themselves on the track. They also work hard away from footy through their diet and how they prepare themselves,"" he said.
“Both are very coachable young boys and it is pleasing for the coaching staff to see them playing well.""
Bendigo’s last two performances have been very encouraging and suggest that the unity and understanding among Essendon and Bendigo players that Hickmott has been building is beginning to result in some pleasing results for the team.
Hickmott agrees that it has been a while coming but the next group of games should show how far Bendigo has come this season.
“We set ourselves to have a really good patch of games either side of the bye (next weekend). I’ve definitely seen improvement across the board. If each player improves by a couple of percent every week and then has weeks when they improve by 10%, we are heading in the right direction” he said.
Coburg, last year's VFL Grand Finalists, have been in good form of late winning their past three games.
Bendigo Bombers play Coburg Tigers at ABD Stadium Group, Coburg on Sunday at 2pm.
B Flaherty Williams Atkinson HB Ramanauskas Michael Geary C Holmes Johnson Crameri HF Pears Hooker Magin F Weeks Bellchambers Bowe R Laycock Nash Skipworth Int Fahour Davies Chartres Granger Coghlan Bristow Pilcher
