Tayte Pears Biography

Tayte Pears, one of the 12 Bombers banned for his part in the club's 2012 supplements program, retires from AFL football to pursue a career as a firefighter.

"The challenges of the last few years have inhibited my ability to undertake the demands of AFL football and I feel it is the right time for me to move on with the next stage of life in the best interests of my future," Pears said.

"I really appreciate all the support I have received from my teammates, the members and supporters and wish everyone at Essendon all the best for the future."

Essendon's worst fears have been realised with the Court of Arbitration for Sport finding 34 past and present players guilty of taking banned substance Thymosin Beta-4 and suspending them for the entire 2016 season.

Twelve players still on the Bombers' list and five now at other AFL clubs who took part in Essendon's 2012 supplements program have been hit with two-year bans beginning on March 31 last year.

However, most of the suspensions will come to an end on November 13 this year, taking into account provisional suspensions already served.

Bombers skipper Jobe Watson, vice-captain Dyson Heppell, reigning club champion Cale Hooker, Michael Hurley, Tom Bellchambers, Heath Hocking, Travis Colyer, Michael Hibberd, Ben Howlett, David Myers, Brent Stanton and Tayte Pears will all miss the Bombers' 2016 campaign.

The guilty decision impacts four other AFL clubs with former Essendon players on their lists, with Jake Carlisle (St Kilda), Stewart Crameri (Western Bulldogs), Jake Melksham (Melbourne), Angus Monfries and Patrick Ryder (Port Adelaide) to be sidelined for the season.

Former Essendon players Mark McVeigh and Brent Prismall are set to be suspended from their respective roles at Greater Western Sydney and the Western Bulldogs until November 13 as support staff are banned from any WADA-complaint sports under the sanctions.

McVeigh is an assistant coach at the Giants, while Prismall is a player wellbeing and welfare manager with the Bulldogs.

Essendon champion and former club coach James Hird slammed the guilty verdict and suspensions.

"I am shocked by this decision," Hird said in a statement.

"I firmly believe the players do not deserve this finding.

"They do not deserve to face a twelve-month suspension from the sport. This is a miscarriage of justice for 34 young men."

Pears will play on at Essendon next year after signing a new one-year deal with the club.

Pears, who was an unrestricted free agent this year, agreed to the extension which will take him into a ninth season with the Bombers.

The 25-year-old played two games in 2015, having missed nearly two years with injuries.

Unrestricted free agent Tayte Pears is keen to secure a new deal at Essendon where he hopes to have more senior opportunities in 2016.

Pears, 25, has played just 70 games in seven seasons with the Bombers, and made only two appearances this year, but is likely to ignore interest from rival clubs to remain at Bomberland.

Pears' manager Tom Petroro said the appointment of new Bombers coach John Worsfold had temporarily held up negotiations on a new deal.

"There's been some interest from other clubs, however we're pretty confident Essendon are really keen to retain his services, particularly in light of losing Carlisle," Petroro told SEN radio.

"It was his first year that he'd actually been able to string a full season (of fitness) together for a couple of years.

"I'd be confident that I'll be in discussions with Essendon at some point in the next week or so."

Tayte Pears signs a new two-year deal with Essendon which will keep him at the club until the end of 2015.

"Tayte is a fantastic competitor, he worked extremely hard to earn his spot back in the side this season and with another full summer of training we feel it will really set him up for a chance to play more senior football in 2014," Essendon coach Mark Thompson said.

"Tayte has been through some extremely challenging injuries and to get back and play some of the football he did this season was really pleasing from a coaching perspective."

Out-of-contract Tayte Pears is attracting keen interest from rival clubs after struggling for opportunities at Essendon in 2013.

"There is definite interest in Pears from other clubs, but Essendon is really keen to keep him," an industry source said.

"In the end you suspect his decision will come down to whether Dustin Fletcher retires at the end of the season and whether Michael Hurley stays in defence."

Essendon's Tayte Pears is hoping to put a horror injury run behind him and recapture his best form in 2012 after admitting to wondering if he would ever over his injuries last year.

"I had all sorts of different thoughts this time last year, [mainly just] about where my footy was going," Pears said.

"It had been about six months and my foot wasn't getting any better at all. I still wasn't running this time last year so I was starting to think about what was going to happen with my footy and did think 'Am I going to get back at all?'

"That's when you start to question whether it will come good and whether I'll actually be able to do it. There were times when it crosses your mind [that you won't be able to come back]."

Essendon coach James Hird admits he made a mistake by playing Tayte Pears with a fracture in his leg against the Bulldogs.

"Tayte, we probably made a little mistake with by playing him," Hird said.

"He had that small crack in his leg. The doctors say that if he rests it this week then it'll be fully healed by next week. It was probably a bit of a mistake on my behalf to play him last week."

Essendon defender Tayte Pears should only be out for a fortnight with a hairline fracture to his leg after fears he would miss the rest of the season.

"He has a hairline fracture in one of his lower leg bones and it's only a very slight one, and he could be available after two weeks," Essendon football manager Paul Hamilton said.

"It's one of those things we're just going to have to wait and see. But it is disappointing news."

Essendon defender Tayte Pears describes a foot injury from a motorbike accident as a 10-year old that had plagued his AFL career prior to surgery.

"I got drafted with a bit of a foot issue which actually got worse as I kept playing AFL, and as the demands got higher and we were training every day and I was playing senior games, my foot wasn't coping," Pears said.

"We thought that was a good time to go in and operate on that and try to get it fixed up. We always knew it was going to be a long rehab but we didn't realise the extent of the surgery and how long it was going to take. It ended up taking a lot longer."

Essendon's promising key defender Tayte Pears has signed a contract extension until the end of 2013.

"Tayte is one of the premier young defenders in the competition as well as being a quality person to have around the club," Essendon general manager football operations Paul Hamilton said.

"We are confident that he is not far away from returning to the playing field. This contract extension is a demonstration of the faith we have in Tayte and the commitment he has to our club."

Essendon defender Tayte Pears will be sidelined for eight weeks after undergoing pancreas surgery.

"This is a serious injury and he has had a fairly major operation," Essendon general manager of football operations Paul Hamilton said.

"The operation went well and it was great news that there was no tear. The doctors are confident he will make a full recovery."

Essendon key defender Tayte Pears is set to miss the next couple of months after breaking his arm during the Bombers' Anzac Day clash against Collingwood.

"It's really disappointing for Tayte and the team - it is one of those disappointing collision injuries that can happen," Bombers' football manager Paul Hamilton said.

"He has had a really good start to the year but unfortunately we are going to have to do without him for 6-8 weeks and we will be looking for others to step up and fill his spot."

Tayte Pears is working hard in the weights room this pre-season in an effort to counter some of the competition's stronger forwards that he struggled against in 2009.

"Being only my second year, my opponents had six, seven, even more years in the gym on me and at times I really felt skinny and scrawny.

"I found ways to work around that, but this year I definitely needed to get a bit bigger and hopefully that should help."

Bombers defender Tayte Pears has been rewarded for his shutdown job on Brendan Fevola with a NAB AFL Rising Star nomination.

"I was very nervous. I grew up watching 'Fev' play footy for years. I used to love watching him, and to get the chance to play on him was pretty big. I was definitely nervous going in to the game," Pears said.

Second-year Essendon defender Tayte Pears will be given the daunting task of nullifying Carlton full-forward Brendan Fevola at the MCG tonight.

Young Essendon defender Tayte Pears will get first crack at Blues' full forward Brendan Fevola on Friday night.

Essendon assistant coach Alan Richardson said the Bombers would resist the temptation to start with the more experienced Dustin Fletcher on the dangerous forward.

"Fletcher will certainly get his opportunity to play on Fev. Tayte Pears will be the one early. He will get first crack and he has been in terrific form so he will get first go," Richardson said.

"The way Fletcher plays, it will be more a team defence than perhaps a one-on-one defence. We hope we can get that structure right."

Young defender Tayte Pears may have the difficult job of standing Blues spearhead Brendan Fevola on Friday night.

"We'll back our young defence. We have all year, and there's no reason for me to go away from that," Essendon coach Matthew Knights said.

"Fevola is a handful and we haven't managed to stop him as a team for two or three years now. He's got sevens, eights and nines, which are really big bags in the modern age.

"We're going to have to try and cut that down a little bit."