The Western Bulldogs nominated basketballer Kim Rennie as a rookie after she impressed at the Club’s AFLW talent testing day on Queen’s Birthday at Victoria University Whitten Oval.

The day was set up to find potential footballers currently active in other sports, where Rennie, currently a member of the Sandringham Sabres in the South East Australian Basketball League stood out.

Western Bulldogs AFLW coach Paul Groves told westernbulldogs.com.au that her height and athleticism were key to her being offered a spot on the rookie list.

“We had 74 girls turn up for our Queen’s Birthday talent day, so she was a standout in that,” Groves said. 

“Her athleticism, her height is particularly impressive which we’re looking at for our list build at the moment, so we were pretty keen to offer her one of those rookie spots.”

‘’We look forward to continuing her basketball and then hoping to get in a few games of footy before we nominate for our list, potentially, in September.’’

Speaking to westernbulldogs.com.au, Rennie said football was something she always wanted to explore.

‘’Playing AFL is something I’ve always wanted to do.  I suppose from a young age I got into basketball and pursued that, [but] footy being another team sport and requiring other physical attributes really is appealing for me to get into as well.

‘’I actually went to the first game and watching that was super exciting, so being a part of that now, and being able to get involved… [I’m] over the moon about it.’’

The AFL allow AFLW clubs to nominate two rookies who can be upgraded to the primary list in September.

There will also be a rookie draft, held after the main draft in October where three further rookies can be added to the rookie list. However, the three rookies will not be able to play until they are upgraded to the senior list because of an injury to another player.