[10] Her father was a coach at the Bright Football Club, which allowed Pearce to begin training with the under-13 boys team from the age of eight;[10] she played alongside her brother Harry[11] and future Collingwood premiership defender Ben Reid.

[4] At high school, she took up netball, tennis and volleyball, making a national youth squad for the latter, before eventually picking up football again.

[24] In March 2016, the VFL Women's (VFLW) was launched and Darebin was named among ten teams from the VWFL to participate in Victoria's new state league competition.

[25] Pearce won the inaugural VFL Women's best and fairest award and played in the first VFLW premiership in 2016 as Darebin defeated Melbourne University.

[33] A second exhibition game between the two clubs, again played as a curtain raiser to the men's match and this time at Etihad Stadium, was announced in June 2014;[34] Pearce was named among Melbourne's best players in its 46-point win.

[47] In July 2016, Pearce and Melissa Hickey were announced as Melbourne's two marquee players for the inaugural AFL Women's season in 2017.

[49] She made her AFL Women's debut in Melbourne's inaugural match in round 1 against Brisbane at the club's home ground, Casey Fields, and was listed among her team's best players in the loss, recording 19 disposals and nine tackles.

[64] She then captained Victoria in the inaugural AFL Women's State of Origin match on 2 September in front of a crowd of 9,400,[65] where she was adjudged best afield with 37 disposals in the 97-point win.

[84] Pearce continued to mentor and work with Melbourne players in an unofficial assistant coach role when they returned for pre-season training in November 2018,[85] and gave birth to twins in February 2019.

Coach Mick Stinear said, "With her knowledge of our game plan, and her ability to instruct, support and give feedback on and off the field, she's just the ideal person to lead this group".

[92] Later that month, Pearce made a successful return to football, playing the first three quarters of Melbourne's practice match win against Collingwood.

[106] Pearce was among Melbourne's best players with 22 disposals in its semi-final win over Greater Western Sydney,[107] before the finals were cancelled with no premiership awarded due to the pandemic.

[114] Pearce polled the maximum three AFL Women's best and fairest votes in Melbourne's round 1 win against Gold Coast.

[118] She injured the medial collateral ligament (MCL) in her right knee[119] in the opening two minutes of Melbourne's close win over Brisbane the following week after her leg was caught underneath her in a tackle,[120] which ruled her out of Melbourne's qualifying final win against Fremantle[121] and preliminary final loss to Adelaide.

[122] Following the preliminary final, Pearce placed second in that year's AFLPA AFLW best captain award behind Western Bulldogs captain Ellie Blackburn;[123] she revealed the next day that she had suffered a small tear to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her right knee in the round 9 game, and that she would have surgery to repair the MCL while allowing the ACL to heal naturally.

[139] She was named in Champion Data's 2022 AFLW All-Star stats team after leading the competition for score involvements with 1.5 per game and kicking 13 goals in ten games,[140] was named in the 2022 AFL Women's season 6 All-Australian team, her third All-Australian selection,[141] and was voted as the AFLPA AFLW best captain for the fourth time in her career.

[169] While in her commentary role for the Seven Network, she was refused entry into Richmond's change rooms following its round 1 draw against Carlton due to her coaching position, a decision which Richmond senior club advisor Neil Balme later clarified was a sign of respect for Pearce's intelligence: "I know I'd trust her to the point that (gathering intelligence is) not what she is there for [...] but to be able to do both jobs is a bit difficult at times".

[170] The Brisbane Lions later put the same ban on Pearce, with senior coach Chris Fagan saying that it was a hard decision and either choice was acceptable.

[173] The appointment made Pearce the third former AFLW player to become a senior coach, following Lauren Arnell and Lisa Webb,[174] and was later named at no.

[190] In 2016, Pearce began appearing as a panel member on the Seven Network program AFL Game Day;[189] she was set to continue in the role in 2020[191] before the show was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[189] In 2021, she became the first woman to provide special comments for Seven's coverage of the grand final, and was widely praised by fans and media for her commentary.

[4] Herald Sun journalist Jay Clark wrote that Pearce had "set the standard in training and professionalism [in women's football] for years" and that her contributions "over more than a decade [made] her a living legend of the women's game",[208] while SEN broadcaster Gerard Whateley called Pearce "the defining figure of the AFLW era" and "the face of a social movement as well as a sport".

[209] Daisy's just the complete package and by playing at Darebin with her, I see how hard she works off the field [...] I couldn't think of a better partner in crime to start that (AFL Women's journey) with.

She has that lovely balance of being engaging, warm and charismatic, but at the same time she is humble and keen to listen and improve.I don't think I've ever had a better captain than Daisy at any level of football.

[211] In February 2017, Melbourne unveiled its new AFLW mascot, a costumed human depicting a "young female footy player", named Daisy in honour of Pearce.

[212] On 7 March 2017, Pearce became the first woman to be elected as a director on the board of the AFLPA; the association had decided that day to include AFLW players as full members.

[213] In September 2018, the VFL Women's best and fairest award was named the Lambert–Pearce Medal to honour Pearce and VWFL founding committee member and former president Helen Lambert.

[215] Pearce studied a Bachelor of Nursing and Midwifery at La Trobe University, graduating in 2010[216] and receiving a Distinguished Alumni award in 2019.

[222] In June 2021, Pearce participated in the annual Big Freeze at the 'G event to raise funds for motor neurone disease (MND) research, sliding into the ice bath at the MCG in costume as the titular character from the Australian animated series Bluey.

[223] Following her 50th AFLW game in 2022, which coincided with season 7's Pride Round, Pearce decided to sell her specially-designed guernsey at auction and donate all funds to The Reach Foundation, a youth not-for-profit organisation established by former Melbourne player and president Jim Stynes.