Of all the AFL’s policies, the most confusing by far is that transgender athletes can play in the VFLW, but not the AFLW.

Last Saturday, transgender footballer Hannah Mouncey made her debut for the Darebin Falcons.

Last week, Hannah was quoted by News Corp as saying that she didn’t “understand why people would be so interested in me for a start”. While she’s become the face of the policy, it’s important to note that it isn’t designed just for her. It’s a policy that will affect women and transgender footballers for generations to come. I'm interested for two reasons (these are my views, not Carlton's).

The first concerns fairness in sport. Transgender athletes who transition after puberty have more exposure to testosterone during adolescence than female athletes, giving them longer bones. Intuitively, being taller feels like an advantage in a sport like AFL, and there is research to support this (Tribolet, Bennett, Watsford & Fransen, 2018).