'Absolute rubbish': Hannah Mouncey hits out at AFL great

Transgender athlete Hannah Mouncey has hit back at comments Chris Judd made in relation to whether or not she should be allowed to play in the AFL women’s league.

Judd came out in support of the AFL’s decision to block her from entering the 2017 AFLW draft, amid concerns Mouncey would have a significant physical advantage over opponents.

“It’s an issue that’s got to be tackled with sensitivity because of the personal journey the transgender community goes through which is something we’ll forever find hard to understand,” Judd said on Footy Classified recently.

“That doesn’t mean that it should change the fairness of women’s sport or potentially the safety if you’re playing a contact sport.

“Purely, the level of testosterone that transgender women grow up with for 20-plus years puts them at a distinct advantage to put down muscle bulk, create power that other females athletes don’t have and I think the AFL were right in not allowing Hannah to play in the AFLW.”

Mouncey will play in the VFLW with the Darebin Falcons this season and is said to be considering nominating for the 2018 AFLW draft.

However she has now revealed Judd’s comments almost made her quit the sport.

“The fact my AFLW draft issue was brought up again on Footy Classified, and the comments Chris Judd made with absolutely no understanding whatsoever of the situation, really did have more of an impact on me than it otherwise might have before,” Mouncey wrote in a column for Players Voice.

“In isolation it probably wouldn’t have mattered. But after everything that had gone on regarding the AFLW draft — and had subsequently died down — having people talking about it again was enough to tip me from wanting to play, to not.

“You take it with a grain of salt but, after a while, it does wear you down. When you hear so many people talking absolute rubbish about a situation they know nothing about, you eventually get pretty bloody sick of it.

“Some people are not willing to listen to the facts. You’re being attacked just for the sake of it.”

But a heart-to-heart conversation with a friend convinced her to keep playing.

“If you had told me three weeks ago I was going to play footy this year, I probably would have said you were nuts,” she revealed.

“I really wanted nothing to do with the sport. I was hating it.

“It wasn’t the fault of the club but, after the last six months, I really just couldn’t be bothered dealing with all the s*** that came with it.”