AFLW star Katie Brennan has been working with Essendon gun Joe Daniher on her game
KATIE Brennan was already a star of the AFLW competition. But what is going to happen now that she has Essendon gun Joe Daniher in her corner?
KATIE Brennan isn’t silly.
Wanting to work on her forward craft, the Western Bulldogs captain went straight to one of the best — All-Australian forward Joe Daniher.
“I’d seem him around a bit and I’d had a chat to him at a few different cafes and then I just reached out,” Brennan said.
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“I was struggling a bit with some tags and I just wanted to get a bit of an insight into how he went about breaking them and how he was in such great form.
‘It was really positive for me. He just said to relax a little bit and just get the enjoyment factor back and not put too much pressure on myself and that things will come.
“Also doing more quality training over quantity training … I was trying to kick 50 goals a week and I went to kicking 10 goals each session and just really focusing on it and putting myself under pressure.”
Brennan has also been tapping into family friend and Gold Coast Suns opposition analyst Brett Munro, who is Melbourne-based.
“We catch up once a week and I can ask for anyone’s vision, whether it’s Joe Daniher, or Dustin Martin or Buddy, anyone,” Brennan said.
“I try to pick bits and pieces out of that.”
Brennan injured her ankle in a practice match against Collingwood on the eve of the AFLW competition and she was ultimately restricted to just two games in the inaugural season.
She is on the other side of the injury now and is comfortable with changing direction again and jumping and has kicked 20 goals in her past three games for VFLW ladder leader Darebin.
“It’s such a relief to be playing again,” Brennan said.
“I feel like I’m quite a resilient character, but when you want something so bad and you get a little taste of it and then it’s taken away from you, it was a pretty tough thing to go through.
“It tested me physically and mentally, but it was probably the best thing I’ve ever been through. “I got to sit back and experience AFL Women’s and I think that’s only made me more hungry and more willing to work hard to get back out there next year.”
Brennan will clash with plenty of her teammates on Saturday as captain of the Allies against Victoria at Etihad Stadium.
“It’ll be nice to play with some of my old Queensland mates … but then you’re playing against some of your current teammates so it’s a bit of a strange feeling,” Brennan said.
“But it’s really exciting to pull on the Allies jersey and it’s always nice to represent something bigger than yourself.”
Originally published as AFLW star Katie Brennan has been working with Essendon gun Joe Daniher on her game