The livewire injured his quad at interleague training on May 15 and was never the same player.

"The quad just wouldn't repair, so any time he did play he was either a half-back flanker or a forward, so we got virtually zero midfield time out of him," Panthers' match committee's Graham Hart said.

"What it did open up though is the fact that he can play back, which we hadn't explored before, but as an attacking, explosive midfielder and a scoring option up forward, he's absolute gold to our show."

Brennan's energetic, 'million miles an hour' style inspires his team-mates and he's started superbly in the pre-season.

"Both his 'praccie' matches have been super," Hart said of the 2017 best and fairest.

Brennan featured against Myrtleford and followed that with another five-star display in the final practice game against Ainslie last week.