McGregor believes the AFL will run into legal trouble if Mouncey's nomination is blocked and said the former Australian handball player deserves her chance. "There are some serious legal issues in terms of saying no, they'd have to say she's not eligible for ability because in terms of saying she actually can't play they'd run into discrimination laws," McGregor said. "Eligibility is the minor point, it's whether she's good enough and whether she's welcome in the room because you don't want to be in a room full of people who don't want you there. "It is a political one but the bottom analysis is sport is tough on standards and if a coach sees her and thinks, 'she can win me matches', then they'll pick her. "Hannah has played international handball so she's a gifted athlete and physically quite strong, she has a lot going for her and from what I've seen she looks the part and would be an asset to any team."

Hannah Mouncey is trying to become the first transgender person to play elite football in Australia. McGregor said there is no questioning whether Mouncey has an advantage as a result of being born a man, but was non-committal on whether it marked an unfair advantage. "There's no getting around the fact if you've played predominantly male sport as a bloke you are socially conditioned to have a slight advantage over women, which has been born over a long period," McGregor said. "A lot of things change when you start putting estrogen in your body, we retain some of our body strength and your height doesn't change, but Hannah is not the same person. "There is less muscle development and less physical strength but there is a core element to her confidence which is certainly an advantage.

"I don't think it's fair or unfair, it's just who she is, she can't unlearn the conditioning she had at the formative periods of her career which do give her a slight competitive advantage. "She's been hard-wired as a young person to compete for the ball differently, so her ball awareness and game awareness would be very different to an average female player." The AFL threw its support behind same-sex marriage last month and McGregor said denying Mouncey now would leave the governing body with egg on its face. McGregor caused a stir in cricket circles last summer when she attempted to make a Women's Big Bash team and warned there is no preparing for the negativity coming Mouncey's way. "It shocked me and I didn't expect the viciousness of people, I'd tell Hannah to stay off social media and read nothing about herself because it really rocked me," McGregor said.