AFLW star Tayla Harris has no time for faceless trolls 'who have cars as cover photos'

James Pavey

AFLW star Tayla Harris has no time for faceless trolls 'who have cars as cover photos' image

Carlton AFLW star Tayla Harris has responded to social media furore over an image of her in full flight during her game over the weekend.

A sensational shot of Harris was snapped by AFL photographer Michael Willson during Carlton's thrilling win over Western Bulldogs on Saturday.

Willson's shot captured Harris in her signature follow-through as she watched the ball sail towards the posts.

After the official AFLW Twitter account shared the photo on Sunday, 7AFL posted it on Tuesday.

MORE: Harris photo sparks passionate social media response7AFL reposts iconic photo after football community fires up

However, "inappropriate" social media reaction to the photo prompted 7AFL to remove it from their account.

The condemnation of 7AFL's decision was swift, while several big football names stood with Harris and threw shade at the haters.

Harris herself reshared the picture, along with a message for the trolls: 

"Here's a pic of me at work... think about this before your derogatory comments, animals," she tweeted.

After being smashed from all angles, 7AFL reposted the image and apologised for caving to online trolls.

Tayla Harris

Speaking on RSN Breakfast on Wednesday morning, an "empowered" Harris responded to the outpouring of support from the footy community, and suggested 7AFL's initial decision to remove the photo was the wrong move.

"I’m feeling empowered this morning because of the reaction that has come, so it has been a bit of a whirlwind," she said.

"I’ve seen all of it, I've seen the comments... I hope a lot of people don’t know what we are talking about and they won't because [the comments] have been deleted since. That created what has come now.

"The reason a lot of people have created a bit of an uproar is because 7AFL deleted the post, rather than perhaps deleting the comments or perhaps blocking the commenters.

"Since that, a lot of people got onboard including Patrick Dangerfield and other high profile people [who] posted the photo and said, 'let’s share this rather than deleting it and letting them win essentially'.

"I kind of saw that and felt a bit warm inside, it felt great. Obviously the AFL community got around me and that was awesome, but it isn’t about me now. It’s about a way bigger picture."


 

Harris said she had no time for faceless trolls on social media "who have cars as their cover photos" on social media.

The 21-year-old was more concerned about the damage trolls can have on broader society, saying it's now about a "whole bigger picture".

"I’m happy to talk about it because I can, but there are people who have this scenario happen to them, whether it’s on a smaller scale or in another area,” she said.

"There are people in this particular incident that may have experienced something to do with sexual assault or something like that that would be much more affected... if this can help a little bit or help people deter comments like that or even suggestive comments, that’s all I can do.

"It's not about me now, it’s so much bigger. We’re definitely not talking about the trolls right now, we’re talking about a whole bigger picture, this is society now."

James Pavey

James Pavey Photo