Why a premiership with the Roosters would be Sam Bremner’s greatest achievement

It took a conversation with her husband to convince Sam Bremner that it was the right choice to come out of retirement to help the Roosters, but now she’s here, the hunger has returned as she eyes off the one thing she hasn’t won in what will be her final game in the NRLW.

Bremner was happily retired having won the World Cup in 2022 with the Jillaroos, but a serious knee injury on the eve of the NRLW season to inspirational fullback Corban Baxter prompted Roosters coach John Strange to get in touch.

The veteran fullback was hesitant at first given she was content spending time with her family, but her husband twisted her arm and the rest is history, with the Roosters one game away from the title.

It’s the carrot that has driven the Roosters’ chief energy officer who has won World Cup and State of Origin series but not an NRLW title, with Bremner stunning the squad by winning fitness drills on her first day back at training.

“If I’m really honest with you, it took me four rounds to really get this hunger in my belly, and that’s just a mindset thing for me,” she said.

“It was one of the reasons why I was so up in the air about returning because I do things with purpose all the time, and I need to understand the purpose and my role and that sort of stuff.

“And in my mindset, I was sort of going in here with ‘I’m a replacement’ … and I spoke to the couple of girls about it to make me understand that I’m not a replacement.

“Deep down, I know that that is the main reason why I would come back (to win a grand final), but I probably wouldn’t have voiced it in that fear of failure. And I’ve always been like that. I’ve always had a fear of failure, I’m a really high achiever.

“I like to do everything to the best of my ability, whether that’s being a mum, a partner, playing kick tennis with the neighbours.

“I knew that with returning, I would want to be the best again, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to put that pressure on myself, my team or my family.

“But I think I’ve learnt, I’ve learnt from my previous season coming back that I had a good season, but mentally I became someone that I didn’t really like, but I was just dealing with a lot of pressure I was putting on myself to get back in that Australian jersey, and I didn’t want to do that again, I wanted to enjoy my football.

“So the focus was for me to get to that grand final but to really enjoy my football. And I have. I’ve come back here in a lighter spirit, but also, I think that comes with having a year off and a complete year off.”

Bremner hasn’t just made up the numbers this year, with the former rep star scoring back-to-back doubles in the past two weeks having scored just three tries in her first three NRLW seasons.

She’s one of the key players going into Sunday’s clash with Cronulla, with a breakthrough title set to usurp everything else she’s achieved as she looks to inspire her three kids.

“I have just envisioned the whole car ride up here, my kids being a part of this, being on that stage when we win, lifting the trophy with them, them running around on the field,” she said.

“I think the experience as a whole would definitely go to the top.

“A ring and the trophy and the fact that I can say I won a premiership is great. But the whole experience for not only me but my family and then others looking to have a journey similar to mine, the feeling of that will go right up there.”

Bremner’s form over the past two months has led some to suggest she should keep playing and push for another World Cup, but she concedes there are other people ahead of her, with Tamika Upton the undisputed best fullback in the world.

“This is a tough one. I would never say no because that jersey means a lot to me and I’ve obviously learnt by this season that I can’t rule things out,” she said.

“But always at the top of my career highlights is putting on the green and gold. And for me, I don’t think it would ever be a ‘no’ to represent my country.

“But I also acknowledge and appreciate that there’s a World Cup coming and there’s a lot of young, talented players that need to start working on their cohesion and have that team-first mentality and come together.

“And I’m definitely not going to be there next year or the year after for this World Cup, so absolutely it wouldn’t be a worry for me if that was the focus to the future.”