But the long-serving Heriot lock has never quite been able to break free.
His mates have always managed to talk him into going around again.
The 36-year-old builder is in his 18th season with the club and brought up his 250th game at the weekend.
It was quite a milestone. Brenssell made his senior debut for the club in 2003. So what has kept him going so long?
"Mostly peer pressure and a lack of numbers pretty much," he said.
"No-one really wants to play lock."
"I’ve been saying I’d like to retire for about five years but I just keep going back.
"I keep saying I’ll play if you are short and they are always short in that position," he added.
"I still sort of enjoy it. It is getting a wee bit hard on the body now."
"I can’t really remember much from back then," he said when asked about his debut season.
"I remember in one of my first pre-season games a ball-boy falling out of the tree and breaking his arm."
An inauspicious start but there have been actual highlights.
The 2013 season was a fine year. Heriot beat Clutha in the final of the Southern Region competition and completed a dream season with a 27-10 win over Maniototo in the countrywide club final.
The team had just one loss and notched 124 tries on the way to a haul of 823 points.
"That was a bloody good year. Pity we didn’t do it a few more years."
Heriot is struggling his season, having lost all four games
Brenssell is married to Leigh and the couple have a 15-month-old son, Jonty.