FOOTY’S very own “Cinderella story“, Williamstown’s Bridie Kennedy, has had quite the footballing journey, but says she couldn’t be happier and is looking to the future with the hope of returning to the AFLW.

“I was saying to Penny [Cula-Reid, Williamstown coach], I feel like I’ve been around so many different clubs and so many different environments and she was like ‘It’s just your Cinderella story, you’re trying to find the perfect slipper that fits’,” said Kennedy. “I feel like I’ve really found my perfect pair of shoes.”

She began her footy days at a local level down in Dromana, on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.

“Pre-NAB League I feel like I was forced into footy,” she said with a giggle. “My friend made me come down to my local club in Dromana and made me start kicking the football around and I guess it was hard for myself trying to find my feet on a footy ground, I was so used to this little basketball court. Pre-NAB League I just loved running around.”

At the time she was playing as her side’s ruck, but funnily enough has never played the role since. One thing she particularly loved about that time in her career was the simple joy of playing with her friends.

Then it was on to representative footy in the TAC Cup, now known as NAB League.

She spent a few years playing for the Dandenong Stingrays, even tying for the League Best and Fairest award with Calder Cannons, now Collingwood star Chloe Molloy.

“It was pretty cool, I loved my NAB League years,” she said. “The Stingrays was such a great club, I loved how they incorporated the girls and the boys as one team, really similar to here at Willy. I came in as a bit of an older girl into the NAB League and Stingrays, so it was good being a bit more mature and being a bit of a leader to the girls. I didn’t really expect to win the League B&F at the end of the year, that was pretty cool, just to top off my final year at being at Stingrays, I think that was awesome.”

Then, in what was quite the whirlwind month for the young star was drafted to Carlton with pick 36 in the 2017 AFLW draft.

Kennedy speaks glowingly of her time at Carlton.

“I absolutely loved my time at Carlton,” she said. “It was such a rollercoaster of emotions. I turned 18, got my driver’s license and got drafted all in one month and graduated from high school so I was op top of the world at that time. I really loved my first year at Carlton, got to play a few games, and then second year round new coach, few new faces, I really loved my time as well. So yeah, I was a little bit upset when I got delisted in that final year, but I think I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on that now and realising what I want to get out of my football and wanting to get into that big league.”

Having been delisted, Kennedy cited that because she wasn’t settled in one position and the fact that Carlton wanted her to go away and develop some more and get her confidence up as the reasons for being let go.

Post her AFLW season, she the went to play with the Darebin Falcons in the VFLW.

“I think as soon as I was delisted I was a little bit lost,” she said “I had no idea what to do, I was very upset and one of the coaches at Darebin was actually the psychologist at Carlton, so she saw that I was upset and was like ‘Come down to Falcs, we’d love to have you run around’. I really loved it at the Falcs. It was such a good community club, felt like I was back at my local years again like with that community vibe and it being an all women’s club as well, that was probably one of the main reasons I went to the Falcons.”

Kennedy then moved to Williamstown pre-Covid, but after some convincing from one of the Seagulls coaches who was heading across to Port Melbourne, she jumped ship and decided to go there in the hope that Port’s alignment with Richmond could create a path back to the AFLW for her.

Unfortunately, Kennedy was left upset about her time at the Borough and sought a fresh start. She always had a soft spot for Williamstown due to her partner playing in the VFLW side, so she decided to move back to the Seagulls and speaks glowingly of her time at the Seagulls thus far.

She was named vice-captain of the side in only her first year at the club, which she says was pretty amazing, and that she’s always enjoyed being a leader.

Kennedy still hopes to get drafted, and at 22 still has plenty of time to do so. The Cinderella story continues.