Brooke Lochland


Brooke Lochland is an Australian rules footballer, playing for the Western Bulldogs in the AFL Women's competition, and former speed skater.

Early life

Lochland took up inline skating at age four and competed in world championships as a teenager. At age 16, she moved to the Netherlands to pursue a career as a long track speed skater. Despite finishing sixth in the 2011–12 World Cup mass start event, she missed out on qualifying for the Sochi Winter Olympics and retired from the sport in 2014. Upon returning to Australia later that year, Lochland switched to football having previously played as a junior. After two impressive seasons with Montmorency, she joined Melbourne University in the VFL Women's competition for the 2016 season.

AFL Women's career

Lochland was drafted by the Western Bulldogs with their seventh selection and fifty-third overall in the 2016 AFL Women's draft. She made her debut in the 32-point win against Fremantle at VU Whitten Oval in the opening round of the 2017 season. She played every match in her debut season to finish with seven games.
In 2018, Lochland kicked seven goals during the Bulldogs' round 4 encounter with Carlton, the most by an AFL Women's player in a single match. She finished the home-and-away season having kicked twelve goals from seven matches, clinching the AFL Women's leading goalkicker award for the year. She would share in team success when the Western Bulldogs went on to win the premiership by defeating Brisbane in the 2018 AFL Women's Grand Final, as well as gaining more individual recognition via selection in the All-Australian team.
Lochland sustained a leg injury in a 2019 practice match against Collingwood and subsequently underwent surgery to repair her fractured right fibula. After several weeks on the sideline, she recovered faster than expected in time to play the last three games of the AFLW season, returning for her club's one-point loss to Melbourne in round 5. During the post-season trade period, Lochland signed a one-year contract with the Bulldogs.

AFLW statistics

Led the league for the season only
Led the league after the Grand Final only
Led the league after season and Grand Final

! colspan=3 | Career
! 18
! 14
! 10
! 135
! 44
! 179
! 45
! 66
! 0.8
! 0.6
! 7.5
! 2.4
! 9.9
! 2.5
! 3.7
! 3