AFLW players hope AFL can deliver own pride round message

AFLW players have challenged the AFL to move with the times on a pride round as they describe the importance of this weekend.

Hawthorn captain Tilly Lucas-Rodd (right) says the AFLW’s Pride Round helps people feel safe and accepted playing football at any level. Picture: Dylan Burns / Getty Images

AFLW players hope the men’s competition can follow suit and deliver its own message of inclusivity and acceptance as the fourth AFLW Pride Round is held this weekend.

The women’s league broke new ground for Aussie rules with the first dedicated pride round in 2021, but almost three years on, the AFL is yet to advance the cause beyond the annual game held between St Kilda and Sydney.

Saints star Jesse Wardlaw said the round had been a huge boost to the AFLW community, which boasts dozens of openly gay players, but acknowledged the freshness of the league may have helped to implement the themed round more quickly than in the men’s competition.

“Our game is so new, we’re evolving with the times, whereas the AFL has been around for so long and can struggle to keep up with the times,” Wardlaw said.

Gab Pound (left) and Carlton will be looking to thwart the maiden finals bid of Jesse Wardlaw’s St Kilda when the sides meet at Ikon Park on Sunday in AFLW Pride Round. Picture: Dylan Burns / Getty Images

“(The Pride Round) is a great example and hopefully one day they can follow in our footsteps … for now, we’re just doing what we can and it’s really important that we have this round for AFLW.”

Carlton defender Gab Pound said messaging towards the LGBTIQ+ community from the AFL could be improved, suggesting movement towards a full round could pick up pace when the first openly gay players emerge.

“Yeah, I’m not sure, I think it’s maybe a space that they still really need to work on,” she said.

“And it’s great that in the AFLW, we’re able to be really proud and speak of our own experiences because it is so important.

“I know in the future, we will have some (men’s) players coming out, and it’s going to be really great, but for the moment I’m really proud of where the W space is.”

All 18 clubs have united behind the round in AFLW, and the league has avoided the controversy that struck the NRL and NBL last year.

AFLW general manager Nicole Livingstone with players from the 10 Victorian clubs ahead of the league’s fourth Pride Round this weekend. Picture: Dylan Burns / Getty Images

Seven Manly Sea Eagles players refused to wear the club’s pride guernsey in 2022, leading to the NRL removing its pride round from the calendar after one year, while NBL franchise Cairns Taipans backed out of wearing a small rainbow logo on its tops after several players objected.

GWS midfielder Haneen Zreika, who was the first Muslim woman to play AFLW, is the only player to have opted out of the round, with the Giants confirming she would skip donning their pride guernsey for the third consecutive season for religious reasons.

Hawthorn captain Tilly Lucas-Rodd said the visibility of the league’s pride round helped make people feel safe playing football at any level.

“I think it is really important that on a national stage we’re saying ‘there is a safe space for you in sport, and you will be able to find it’,” they said.

“It’s really important that we show people everywhere that sport is for them because we know how beneficial sport can be.

“Coming from playing women’s football before it was AFLW professionally, it was built on a culture of acceptance and creating a safe space and love. That’s transferred into the AFLW, and it’s really special for me that we get to have a whole pride round.”