Annette Brander (born 12 January 1993) is an Australian

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who plays as a er for the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...

in the

NRL Women's Premiership The Telstra NRL Women's Premiership (NRLW) is Australia's national rugby league competition for women's rugby league in Australia, female players. The first season of the league began in September 2018 with four teams. The league is run by the ...

and the

Central Queensland Capras Central Queensland Capras are a semi-professional rugby league football club primarily based in Rockhampton, Queensland and representing Central Queensland. They currently play in the Queensland Cup, the premier rugby league competition in Quee ...

in the

QRL Women's Premiership The QRL Women's Premiership, known as the BMD Premiership due to sponsorship from BMD Group, is the top level of women's rugby league football in Queensland, Australia. Run by the Queensland Rugby League, the competition is Queensland's first s ...

. She is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

and

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

representative.

Background

Born in

New Lambton, New South Wales New Lambton is a suburb of Newcastle, in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is located about west of the Newcastle central business district. It includes two shopping districts, schools and other general facilities. At the 2016 ...

, Brander moved to

Caboolture, Queensland Caboolture () is a town and suburb in Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the suburb of Caboolture had a population of 26,433 people. It is located on the north side of the Caboolture River, which separates the town from Morayfi ...

with her family when she was two-years old.

Playing career

In 2010, Brander began playing rugby league for the Caboolture under-18 side and the Sunshine Coast Sirens. In 2012, she joined Brisbane Women's Division 1 side, the Beerwah Bulldogs. In 2014, she made her debut for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in their 12-8 loss to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

. In October 2017, she was named in

2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup The 2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup was the fifth staging of the Women's Rugby League World Cup and was held in Australia between 16 November and 2 December 2017. Pool and semi-final matches was held at Southern Cross Group Stadium in Sydney ...

squad, playing four games in the tournament.

2018

In June 2018, she represented Queensland Country at the 2018 NRL Women's National Championships. In July 2018, Brander joined the

St George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint- ...

in the

. In Round 1 of the

2018 NRL Women's season The 2018 NRL Women's Premiership (NRLW) was the first season of professional women's rugby league in Australia. Teams Pre-season Only two of the four sides, the Brisbane Broncos and New Zealand Warriors, took part in pre-season trial games. T ...

, Brander made her debut for the Dragons in their 4–30 loss to the

2019

In June 2019, she again represented Queensland Country at the NRL Women's National Championships. Later that month, she signed with the

. On 6 October 2019, she started at in the Broncos' 30–6

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

win over the Dragons and won the Karyn Murphy Medal for Player of the Match.

2020

On 25 October 2020, she came off the bench in the Broncos' 20–10 Grand Final win over the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...

2021

In 2021, Brander joined the

in the

Achievements and accolades

Individual

*Karyn Murphy Medal: 2019 * QRL Representative Player of the Year: 2019

Team

: Australia – Winners * 2019 NRLW Grand Final: Brisbane Broncos – Winners * 2020 NRLW Grand Final: Brisbane Broncos – Winners

References

External links

Brisbane Broncos profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brander, Annette 1993 births Living people People from South East Queensland Sportswomen from Queensland Australian female rugby league players Australia women's national rugby league team players St. George Illawarra Dragons (NRLW) players Rugby league centres Rugby league second-rows Rugby league locks Brisbane Broncos (NRLW) players