Renegades’ legend survives broken bones and bruises to reach 300 game milestone
The Brunswick women’s football captain predicts this season will be her last
“I’ve just made so many life long friends and the team spirit here is amazing,” says Clare Woodhouse, pictured at Gillon Oval this week.
Mark Phillips
Friday, July 4, 2025
CLARE Woodhouse spent most of her first season playing Australian Rules football so scared by the bigger and harder bodies of other players that she contemplated quitting.
But persistence won out, and more than two decades later, the Brunswick Renegades captain will this Saturday clock up her 300th game of senior football.
It is a rare achievement in women’s football and one that was almost inconceivable when Woodhouse first pulled on the boots as a tiny 15-year-old.
Now in her early-40s, Woodhouse – universally known as ‘House’ or ‘Housey’ – is renowned for her fearless attack on the ball but a lifetime of injuries means she is almost certain to retire at the end of this season.
In the meantime, the Renegades are hoping to make sure her 300th senior game and 137th with the club is one to remember with a win over Parkside at Gillon Oval.
“I definitely didn’t think I’d still be playing,” Woodhouse said this week.
“When I first came to Brunswick, I’d just come out of not playing for a couple of years, and before that, I had all these serious injuries, [so] when I first started in 2014 at Brunswick, I said, if I get another major injury, that’s it.
“And so I thought, there’s no way I would ever make it to 300. I thought I’ll probably do my knee again or break something again. And I’m very lucky at Brunswick, I’ve been relatively injury free. And the body feels good, amazingly.”
She said the joy of playing football was still as great as when she was a teenager.
“That team feeling on the field when it’s working well is … I don’t know, you can’t beat it really.”
Woodhouse has seen huge changes in the women’s game since her debut for Box Hill Mustangs in 1998.
Back then, there was no AFLW and opportunities for women to play football were limited but living in the eastern suburbs, Woodhouse was fortunate that there was a local women’s club.
Women played on grounds that were frequently mudpits after youth and men’s football teams had used them, and the number of women’s clubs across Victoria could be counted on the fingers of a couple of hands.
But AFLW has brought new professionalism and status for women’s football and seen an explosion in the game’s popularity with women and gender diverse people.
Woodhouse did not grow up in a football playing family but always followed the game, with 1993 Brownlow Medallist Gavin Wanganeen a personal favourite.
Having played netball and other team sports, she was introduced to football by a school friend but because there was no junior pathway into the game at the time, the two 15-year-olds were required to play with adults up to twice their age.
“I was a tiny little girl, and in my first year I barely touched the football,” she recalled.
“I think I just stood on the football field being scared shitless, just standing there, freezing and being like, Why did I do this?
“But I loved the team camaraderie. So even though I wasn’t very good when I first started, I still loved it.”
The Box Hill women’s club eventually folded but Woodhouse joined Melbourne University Women’s Football Club, where she spent 10 years and played more than 100 matches.
Playing mainly as a rover, she was a member of premiership winning teams in 2003 and 2005 and won a Best & Fairest award in 2003, represented Victoria Metro in 2006, but the outstanding highlight was to be part of the first ever women’s match played on the hallowed MCG turf in 2004.
But by 2011, after injuries including breaking a leg in two spots, several broken noses, and a knee reconstruction, Woodhouse’s body could not take any more and she quit football for what she thought at the time was a permanent retirement.
That lasted a couple of years, by which time Woodhouse was living in Brunswick and the fledgling Renegades were trying to get together enough numbers to enter a team in the Victorian Women’s Football League for the 2014 season.
“One of my friends heard that Brunswick was starting a club, and I thought, yeah, I’d like to give footy a go again.
“And so I came down to Brunswick when they started their first women’s team in 2014 … and we had a great time. It was very [much] about the camaraderie and having fun.
“I’ve just made so many lifelong friends and the team spirit here is amazing. So just I enjoy being with the girls at the club.”
The Renegades started in the lowest division of the VWFL but made it to the preliminary final in their first season and the grand final the following year, growing their numbers to field two teams for most of the subsequent seasons, which have predominantly been spent in the Victorian Amateur Football Association in partnership with the Brunswick NOBs men’s team.
Woodhouse has captained the Renegades for 87 of her 137 games, was the club’s first player to reach the milestone of 50 and 100 games, and won so many Best & Fairest awards (four plus runner-up twice) that the club’s trophy is now named after her.
She is respected for her unflinching courage and determination to win the ball.
“I must be just pretty sturdy,” she said.
“I’m an in-and-under player and not shy of laying a tackle or a bump or going and getting the ball. So I’m just lucky that the body feels okay to keep playing.”
Brunswick Football Club president Kelly Dungate, a former team-mate of Woodhouse’s from the earliest days of the Renegades, said she was “truly one of a kind”.
“Her head is always over the ball, and you can count on her to put her body on the line every single time,” Dungate said.
“Her voice and leadership have set the standard across many seasons. It’s been a privilege to have her playing at the club for the past 11 years and sharing the journey with her.
“Off the field, Housey has been the heartbeat of the Renegades. Her influence on the club’s culture has been profound and lasting. Simply put, without Housey, the Renegades wouldn’t be who they are today.”
The senior team’s coach, Sasha Dougherty, echoes those sentiments.
“As captain, House doesn’t just talk leadership – she is it,” she said.
“She’s generous in sharing her knowledge and experience with new players, putting the team first.
“Having 300 games in footy is remarkable, but 300 games as a female footballer is still rare and something to be celebrated. House’s impact on the Renegades is truly special. She’s respected and loved by the team.
“Personally I’ve learned so much from her, both as a player and as a coach, and I feel privileged to have been able to play footy with someone of her ability and character.”
“I definitely didn’t think I’d still be playing.”
Outside of football, Woodhouse is a primary school teacher and her students are also well aware of her prowess on the football field.
“I’ve taught prep for like, 15 years now … and I think they just are fascinated when I come in with new bruises to show them, or new injuries that I’ve got. That’s what excites them.”
But after more than 20 years of senior football and well beyond the age most players retire, Woodhouse is convinced this season will be her last.
While she has been mostly injury-free during her 11 years at the Renegades, the cumulative impact of earlier wounds – particularly the double break in her left leg which has left a metal rod near her ankle – have taken their toll.
And although she has no trouble revving herself up for match day, turning up for training on a mid-week night in winter after a long day of work is becoming harder to stay motivated for.
She is looking forward to getting her weekends back although she will still try to attend Renegades’ matches and cheer on the team.
“I’ve always been pretty motivated and loved it, but this year I’ve started to feel every ache in my bones,” she said.
“Brunswick’s a wonderful club but I’m personally like, oh, I think that’s it for me. So after this year, I’ll probably retire.
“I’ve never said that before. When I sort of retired a few years ago, it was because I just had too many injuries and my body just couldn’t handle it.
“And that was also at the top level at the time then that you could play in Victoria, so I was playing in the top team, so it was a lot harder, and it was tougher on your body.
“So just these contact injuries I was getting, it was not good for me.
“But I’ve never said I’m going to retire and this year, I really feel it.”
Brunswick Renegades host Parkside at 2.40pm at Gillon Oval on Saturday.
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