Women’s Academy player Grace Breen says that her dual registration with QPR has been a positive experience so far – and she wants to use her knowledge gained in the senior game to help our Under-19s in their Capital Cup tie against London Bees.
Having spent the first half of the campaign predominately with our young side, captaining in spells in the Professional Game Academy League, the defender ventured into her first senior spell with the Hoops in the FA Women’s National League side Division One South East.
Grace has made seven appearances for the west London side since January, 2026, helping them to clean sheets in their last two games, and she feels she has hugely benefitted from the spell so far.
“I've really enjoyed it,” she told us, reflecting on her dual registration. “I've had some good opportunities since I've been there, playing at the likes of Craven Cottage against Fulham. We’ve played against some of the teams at the top of the table, which have been tough game, but I really enjoyed my time and the girls, plus the staff, have been really lovely.
“The standards and the things they want to achieve are pretty similar to here at Spurs as part of the Academy,” Grace added, when asked what the differences have been between senior and PGA football. “They want to achieve big things, they want to get promoted, win games, have good performances, but the main differences I'd say is probably the intensity is higher, the stakes are slightly higher, obviously, as we want to get as many points as possible, so it's less about development and more about the performance and success.
“I've said this to all the staff here when I come back, my mentality has gotten so much better since being a part of a senior Women's team. I've come back here and my leadership has become so much better. I think I bought that winning mentality into this into our Academy set-up, so it's been good.”
Beating the Hamlets 2-1 at Champion Hill, Grace spoke of her pride for her fellow team-mates to put in that standard of performance and wants to replicate that later this week when we come up against the Bees.
“We were such a young, young team, so to come out with that performance, firstly, followed by that result was outstanding,” she told us.
“I can't fault any of the girls for anything. We were unreal from minute one until the very end. We kept the ball so well and pushed them all the way through the game, we matched them in terms of aggression, and we dominated, I think on and off the ball, we were so good and I think our full-time celebration showed that. To come here with a completely different and younger team is such a massive feeling and it shows how far we've come as an Academy.
“Now, we've had that experience, hopefully we could take that into our stride, take it to the next game. I don't know about the difference in the two teams between Dulwich and London Bees, but I think if we go out there with the same mentality, same performance and just work hard from minute one to the end, we'll get the performance and we'll get the result that we deserve, which is hopefully we'll win.”
