

Speaking to Meg Ward, RAAF firefighter, Harvey Norman Jillaroos player and inaugural NRL Holden Women’s Premiership winner with the Brisbane Broncos, one thing is clear: she’s not interested in letting being a woman define her.
The 24-year-old Queensland Maroons player, who is currently based with the RAAF in Amberley, has lived a life full of challenging stereotypes. Everything from being in the Defence Force, to coming out to her family at the age of 15, is testament to her determination to live the life she wants – not the life others think she should lead.
“My advice to young girls is, if there’s something you want to do, then do it,” Ward tells Mamamia.
“Don’t think about whether something is ‘for girls’ or ‘for boys’.”
Ward says she’s never let the concept of gender stand in her way.
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“I don’t believe in ‘men can do something, and women can’t’. I think we’re all equally capable. Like when people suggest changing training to suit women; no.
“We can all physically do the same thing. And we should be allowed to prove that.”
This strong sense of gender equality is something Ward has believed in since she was a young girl.
“I was a tomboy,” she laughs.
“But really, I was just a girl who liked doing things the boys liked doing. At school, most of my friends were boys, because I was into what they were into.”