She recalls a recent incident when her club, Richmond, posted a story about her online. "It was a story they did a couple of months ago on me - and some person went and copied some article on gangs and posted it on the site,” she says.

“When I saw it I just laughed, it’s so petty.”

Akec Chuot. Supplied

In addition to vying for her second shot at a spot in the AFLW, after being picked for Fremantle’s inaugural team but being delisted at the end of the season, the Richmond utility is also an advocate for diversity in the AFL through her position as a multicultural development officer.

It’s a different world from her childhood, where she spent nine years in a Kenyan refugee camp where “there was no such thing as TV, there was no such thing as electricity” and little opportunity for children, especially girls, to play any kinds of sports.

Inclusion is the word on everyone’s lips after a month where racist and sexist trolling of AFL and AFLW players again made headlines.

Chuot is working on getting young people from ethnically diverse backgrounds into the AFL at all levels, through programs like the AFL’s All Nations, which lets overseas-born youth who might not have been able to afford it, play football.

It’s a challenge she’s experienced herself. “I remember sometimes I wouldn’t even be able to pay my sporting fees because my mum couldn’t pay for food and then pay for my sporting fees.

''Sometimes I would just have to talk to the club and explain what was going on.”

She believes football can bridge the gap between ethnic minority communities and the broader Australian community.

And the more diverse players there are at the elite level, the more the younger generation will be inspired to try it out themselves, like she was.

“I remember growing up watching Majak Daw playing on television and I’m a girl but there was a part of me that like ‘wow, I want to be where he is one day’.”

That’s what she aspired to do when she was selected for the Fremantle AFLW side in 2017.

“It was an opportunity for women in my community to finally be represented. I knew I had a massive role on my shoulder because I wanted to ensure I was the best role model I could be.”

When she was dropped by the Dockers at the end of the season, it came as a shock. But although sad, she didn't let it deter her dream of continuing to play at the elite level. “I was like, I’m not finished, I'm just getting started.”

She moved to Melbourne to play in the VFLW for Carlton, before moving to Richmond this year.

Chuot thinks the AFL, as an “almost religion” of Australia, can lead the way in addressing social issues like racism more broadly. As one of the ambassadors of Melbourne Knowledge Week, she will be giving a talk on the topic on Tuesday 21 May.

As for her hopes for Richmond's inaugural AFLW team, she's optimistic.

“I’m going to do everything possible to give myself the best possible position to be picked every week for the VFLW team and give myself the best shot to be picked for the first ever Richmond AFLW team,” she says.

"Fingers crossed."

Chout, alongside Melbourne-based journalist, author and Tigers fan George Megalogenis, will dissect the philosophical question, “So what if AFL can cure democracy?” next month at Melbourne Knowledge Week, which runs from May 20 to 26.