Katie Brennan always wanted to play footy.
 
Growing up in Logan, just south of Brisbane, a young Katie would practice kicking goals through some poles on the family tennis court, and would celebrate those goals by running along the e fence, high-fiving the leaves as if she was at the MCG.
 
And when she finally got her chance to play a competitive game, there was ample opportunity to celebrate as a six-year-old Brennan kicked seven goals on debut, filling in for her brother’s under-eight’s team.
 
“My Dad was coaching my brother’s under-8’s team at the time," she told westernbulldogs.com.au
 
“One week they were short and I was front and centre, and I was like ‘Dad, pick me, I’m ready to go, I’m all stretched, I’m all warmed up.’
 
“He threw me out there with a bit of hesitation and I kicked seven goals in my first game in the forward line, and Dad was like, ‘ok, you can hold your own, you can stay out there with the boys.
 
“I was very fortunate that he let me stay and I was able to continue my journey with the boys until I reached youth girls.”
 
Brennan credits her family for fostering her love of the game, and has fond memories of her brother, Paul playing kick-to-kick with his little sister around the families’ Queensland property.  Once she’d exhausted her big brother, a determined Brennan kicked the ball to herself.
 
“He was two years older and is one of the reasons I got into footy," she said.
 
“I used to do everything he did and we used to kick the footy in the backyard together all the time, and when he got tired I’d just kick the footy by myself up against the trampoline.”
 
At 23, Brennan has already put together one of the more impressive resume’s in women’s football.

In her past eleven seasons of football, Brennan has won premierships in each of them – the last three at VFL Women’s powerhouse club Darebin Falcons.
 
In 2015, she won the Susan Alberti award as the Bulldogs Women’s team Best and Fairest, and her good form has continued into this year’s VFL season where she’s kicked 41 goals in 11 games, and named best afield eight times.
 
It’s just the beginning for Brennan who expects to be a Bulldogs player for many years to come, but it’s a long way from the families backyard in Queensland in more ways than one.
 
“It was something that back when I was eight or nine, I couldn’t really see what the future of women’s football looked.
 
“But I was persistant, I kept training and for that opportunity, and for that dream to come true has just been incredible.
 
“My heart has been captured by this Club and I wouldn’t want to play anywhere else.”