Two months ago, AFLW player Tayla Harris was at work when she kicked a goal.
There was nothing out of the ordinary about it.
Her office was Melbourne’s Whitten Oval playing for Carlton against the Western Bulldogs. And as a Carlton forward, the 22-year-old’s job is, literally, to kick goals.
This time, however, Harris’ goal was immortalised in a photograph taken by Michael Willson, showing her athleticism, hamstring in full stretch, after booting the footy through the goal posts.
What happened next captivated the news cycle. In late March, the image was posted on Channel Seven’s 7AFL Twitter account, but was quickly removed after attracting a large number of aggressive, inappropriate and violent comments aimed at Harris.
Instead of ignoring the misogynistic comments, Harris made the decision to re-post the photo on her own social media accounts, writing: "Here’s a pic of me at work. Think about this before your derogatory comments, animals.”
Months on from that media storm, Harris has recreated her now-iconic photo on the cover of Stellar magazine, telling the publication how one image and the series of events changed her life.
