AN All-Australian nomination, TAC Cup Girls’ best and fairest and Team of Year representation and running out on Etihad Stadium representing Victoria, it is fair to say Bridie Kennedy’s short football career has been a memorable on thus far.

The versatile tall shared the TAC Cup Girls’ league best and fairest with Calder Cannons’ Chloe Molloy on Sunday night, an award she was bestowed upon earlier in the year. It came a day after donning the ‘Big V’ and taking on the Allies at Etihad in a curtain raiser to the AFLW’s State of Origin.

Kennedy described the whirlwind of taking on the country’s best youth on one of the country’s most used venues, as “exciting” and “amazing”. She said the next step was the AFLW National Draft which would be held next month where she hoped she could land at an AFLW club.

The Collingwood supporter said she had experienced playing in a number of positions. “I’ve been all over the shop lately,” she said. “I played the TAC Cup in the ruck, but I’ve been a bit smaller lately in the VFL, playing forward and then state of origin last night (Saturday) in the backline – I really like the backline so I really hope I get to play there more.”

Kennedy’s journey was different to that of many other aspiring female footballers. Coaxed into playing by a friend and then having to pay her own fees, the Dandenong Stingrays and Vic Country representative can see her decision paying dividends now.

“One of my friends made me go and sign up at my local club and my love developed from there. I was 15 then, so about two years ago,” she said. “My parents were really against football when I first started off but I still went down there and I paid my own subs, they love it now but I love the footy.”

Kennedy said she was inspired by the way Carlton and now Melbourne midfielder/forward Bianca Jakobsson went about her football at Cranbourne, the club which Kennedy had been playing with throughout the VFL Women’s season. She said the experience of playing against full-grown and experienced women was eye-opening.

“Yeah it was great exposure and great to play against some of our heroes from watching the AFLW, so great to see how we go against them and next year or the year after,” Kennedy said. “Yeah (it’s) definitely much more physical, it was a bit of a slap in the face after I played my first game of VFL, but definitely found my feet. “It was great to play against all the girls.”

The opportunity at Cranbourne had come out of Kennedy’s top performances for Dandenong Stingrays in the inaugural TAC Cup Girls’ competition, an experience the aspiring AFLW footballer is unlikely to forget anytime soon.

“(It’s) definitely a privilege (to take part in the first ever competition) and yeah even looking at the videos tonight, I can’t even remember playing these games, the sun out – it’s amazing, good to reflect on the season,” she said. “I was vice-captain for the Dandenong Stingrays so it was good to get some leadership out of it, which had been my first time; and definitely being a leader within the main group was something I got out of it.”

Now it is a waiting game for Kennedy as she looks towards the AFLW National Draft with the hope of being selected by one of the four Victorian sides.