Courtney Gum will never forget how hard it once was to find an answer upon being asked to name her female role models.

But that was a few years ago. Now those idols will never be hard to find thanks in part to the rapidly-expanding AFLW competition Gum hopes will continue on a path to professionalism.

Courtney Gum has hung up the boots. Credit:Rohan Thomson

"I think I ended up saying Monica Seles, I’m that old, and Steffi Graf. I really had to think about it, and I think I also said at the time Chelsea Randall because I used to play with her," Gum said of her role models.

"Now there’s multiple people that young girls and boys, adults, and teenagers can look up to which is really important."