Western Weekender

Brenna Tarrant first had the urge to play football at the age of 9, and it was 4 years later that she started playing competitive Aussie Rules for the local Emu Plains club. With the rise of the AFLW, Brenna’s passion for the sport and dream to shape a professional career from it, has turned into reality. Last year, waiting in her school library during the AFLW Draft, there was the fear of not knowing when her name would be called and as the picks ahead of her were taken. “I felt it fading away a little bit, but you’ve got to have hope. You’ve got to think ‘If my name gets called out, I have a chance at playing AFLW’. If it doesn’t, well I have to wait another year,” Brenna said. “I was just clinging to hope really – I felt like I was hanging on by a thread.” The nerves were worth it for Brenna, after 5 years playing the game her dreams came to fruition, as the Melbourne Demons selected her as the No. 72 pick, meaning she would join the roster for the 2020 season.