Family first: Bremner insists retirement call is final

Jillaroos coach Brad Donald was asked at the naming of his squad for the Pacific Championships whether Sam Bremner had been considered, but after winning a premiership with the Roosters the star fullback insists she has retired.

Bremner had achieved everything else in the game and after Sunday’s epic 34-30 defeat of the Sharks the 32-year-old declared she had now “matched” husband Wayne, who last year finished his career with a premiership.

Wayne, an Illawarra league legend, and the wife of Roosters coach John Strange, Adele, were driving forces behind Bremner’s decision to come out of retirement after fullback Corbyn Baxter ruptured her ACL in a pre-season trial.

With a premiership ring, the mother of three will now return to retirement and insists she has played her last NRLW game as she prepares for a new role as Female Football Manager for the Dragons.

“The reason why I'm not playing football is not because I don't like it, and it's not because I don't feel capable.” Bremner said.

“It's because when I decide to do something I put absolutely everything I can into it and when you do that something has to give. In the last few months, that something that has to give is the time with my children.

“I have played football for 14 years and as much as I love it so much, it deserves so much time being put into it.

“That's what it takes to win premiership, and I understand that and I'm not willing to do that anymore because of what it takes away from my children.”

For the past three months, Bremner has had to juggle being a mother to three children under five years-of-age with travelling to Sydney to train and play for the Roosters. 

After she initially turned Strange down, Adele insisted he keep trying to convince Bremner to play, while Wayne urged her to have one final shot at winning a premiership.

“I had the pleasure of coaching Sammy in the 2022 season and she had a brilliant year, she got the Dally M fullback of the year and went over and won a World Cup for the Jillaroos in England," Strange said.

“Then she hung the boots up and obviously had another child. That's probably the third or fourth time she'd retired there but with Corbs going down in that trial match a week before round one we were looking around at who could come in.

“My wife, who's a bit of an expert on rugby league, said you need to get Sammy back and you need to give her a call. I know what Sammy's like and when I spoke to her, I knew she'd been training anyway, so that wouldn't be an issue."

However, Bremner hadn't touched a ball for 18 months and wasn't sure about her ability to return without any pre-season training.

“I was confident in the physicality of returning to rugby league. For me it was the mental load and the mentality of being back to an elite level.

“I had to try to flick a switch pretty quickly and I was really challenged by that.

"I backed myself physically, but I didn't run literally for 12 months - nine months being pregnant and three months trying to recover - so there was a real lack of confidence in terms of rugby league, not in terms of contact or fitness.

“I really honestly think if I was to put myself into any other team, I wouldn't have been able to play with any confidence. It's because of the specific individuals in our team and the coach."

Bremner praised her team-mates, particularly captain Isabelle Kelly, who dislocated her elbow two weeks ago but did not miss a game, and halfback Tarryn Aiken, who won the Karyn Murphy Medal as player of the match.

“These girls put absolutely everything into representing this jersey and playing rugby league," she said.

"You don't see what they do day in, day out, with Tarryn watching footy over and over again, picking apart teams, and Izzy absolutely going as hard as she can to return to the football arena when she's suffered an injury and the mental load that takes.

“We all see what happens on the football field, but in terms of what it takes to be an elite athlete all year round … as sad as it makes me to say it, I'm just not willing to do what these girls do anymore because it sacrifices my family."

Strange made special mention of Bremner and her contribution to the game in the dressing sheds as they celebrated their grand final win. 

"Sammy's done everything in the game, she's one of the original pioneers who've driven the NRLW or the female space a long way so it's really fitting that she goes out with a with a premiership ring," he said.

“She's achieved that and now she's taken on this awesome fulltime role with the Dragons next year and I just wish her all the best.

"The fact that these girls are now coming out and getting full time roles in the game, that's what makes me really excited."

Donald said Bremner would still fit into Jillaroos side, but she had advised of her retirement. 

“If anyone knows Sam Bremner she is the epitome of what a Kangaroo and a Jillaroo is, she is all team first," he said.

"It didn’t get across the selection table because Sammy had retired, and she basically told us when she came back to play for the Roosters that there was no way she was going to pull a jersey on."