She was recognised with life membership - presented by her twin sister Maddy-of the club prior to taking the court for her milestone match, which ended in a 14 goal win for the Tigerettes and a near best on court performance by Holt.
Maddy, the older of the wins by minutes, is usually her patner in crime at the defensive end of the court. The pair, first with Lockington and later with Rochester, have formed a fearsome defensive partership in the goaling circle during their many years of playing together.
The Holt twins, along with older brother Warwick and elder sisters Alicia and Sophie, grew up on a dairy farm at Lockington. Her mother, Jenny was a netballer, but called time on her career early after having children.
Her father, Steve, played football throughout the region as a key player and coach.
They have set extremely high standards in their sporting and professional careers, which funnily enough have followed pretty similar paths - in true twin sister fashion.
After finishing primary school at Lockington they moved to Rochester secondary and Bridgette played her first A grade game at Rochester in 2011, as a 17-year-old.
The Holt sisters played A grade as 15-year-olds at Lockington, Bridgette quick to point out that injuries had probably robbed her sister of several seasons.
“She has had more injuries than me - a knee, elbow, thumb, just about everything under sun,” she said.
Bridgette did have her own injury hurdle, ironically against Saturday’s opponent Tatura, in 2019.
She missed an entire season due to a knee reconstruction, recalling the collision which caused the injury with only a couple of minutes remaining in the match.
"I initially thought I had just dislocated my knee. I got up and it collapsed again.
Both are not only hard nosed defenders, but they are also both theatre nurses at Bendigo Base Hospital. Bridgette has been a theatre nurse for six years at the Bendigo base and had scrubbed on many occasions with the surgeon that did her own knee surgery leading up to her admission post injury “Just to put myself at ease that I had made the right decision for who would operate”.
“The knee is fine now and holding me in good stead” she said.
Individual success has followed the athletic goal defence, but she is yet to play in a single finals match with the club. That’s something she is hoping to address this season.
A great reader of the play, her running power through the mid-court works well with the fast movement of the now well balanced team.
She has won two A grade best and fairest awards at Rochester and been runner up on several occasions.
She expects to be playing with her sister again next year as Rochester continues its build on the back of the arrival of several young stars. She explained the young guns currently coming through the ranks in Rochester’s A grade team included Teal Hocking and Charlie Ralston.
“They are the same age as when I started playing here. This should be the year I get to play finals,” she said.
Her partner, Nathan McCarty, also enjoyed a good day on Saturday. He kicked two goals and was among the Tigers best in the win against Tatura.
McCarty is the nephew of club legend Simon, who was part of a 1992 premiership reunion at the club on Saturday.
The tigers are set to have a great season with Bridgette captaining the youthful side.
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