Recently I was sitting in the physiotherapist’s office at Essendon chatting to some teammates and the conversation turned to that wonderful picture of Tayla Harris kicking a football during the AFLW season.

Taken by AFL photographer Michael Wilson, it dawned on me the image is more a cultural symbol than an action picture.

It represents how far we’ve come but how far we still have to go. Some of the comments that accompanied the initial social media post were disgusting, but the support that followed from the AFLW and AFL community was uplifting.

I will never know why the conversation in the physio room took a pivot towards sexism in our game and inequality in Australia, but I’m glad it did.

It made me think deeply about the problems we are facing. It made me want to talk and write to reconcile them. And it made me want to act to help fix the issue. Now.

Michael Willson's incredible picture of Tayla Harris.

My experience is not unlike many footballers my age. A decade ago I was playing under 12s at Cobden Football Club. In my team were two girls: Abbey Clarke and Cheyenne Rohan. Abbey would play and then boundary umpire the under 14s game immediately after. They were two of our best players. Without female changing rooms, they would get dressed before arriving at the ground.

I clearly recall other teams referencing them more than any boy. It was then I realised ‘playing like a girl’ was a shocking insult, but not to the boy who was copping the abuse. No, it was an insult to these two girls, who had to deal with the negative connotations around the slogan every time they played.

We’d try to stick up for them and protect them, but often opposition players, coaches and even parents would just laugh as if it was a joke. It was never a joke to me and still isn’t.

In the physio’s office at Essendon, I realised playing alongside Abbey and Cheyenne allowed me to appreciate the need for complete equality from a young age as more than just a half-baked pipedream from men in powerful positions.

At the time, boys had a clear dream of playing AFL, while girls did not, rather, they COULD not. There was no AFLW competition. For other teams playing against us, it was almost a novelty getting out-run or out-marked by a girl. But Abbey and Cheyenne were both guns and were legitimate players in their own right, regardless of gender.

I appreciate the league deserves great credit for creating and growing the female competition, but we have so far to go, as the reaction to the Tayla Harris photo illustrated.

With these thoughts fresh in my mind, I was invigorated by a brilliant article earlier this month published on The Players’ Tribune website. It was written by Utah Jazz NBA star Kyle Korver, who has white skin.

In the piece, he explained in blunt terms why every time a racist remark gets aimed at an ethnically diverse teammate, he feels hurt. He spoke of his growing intolerance to racial vilification. It was powerful and moving. It struck a deep chord with me and is a big reason why I’m writing this piece.

I feel the same way about sexism in the AFL as Korver does about racism in the NBA (Not that racism is no longer an issue in footy, but this article is about sexism. I understand many of the principles are transferrable though).

I’m sick and tired of men – not all men – sitting back and saying ‘that’s wrong’ without actually doing something about it. The time to act is now and I want to help alter the way we appreciate girls in football for the benefit of our community. Not everyone will feel as strongly as me, and that’s fine, but my way is to be more than just a voice.

I understand most people in the AFL industry have good intentions and I know Cheyenne in particular loves seeing female players more accepted than ever.

But aside from playing footy and winning games for Essendon, I want to create a legacy that anyone else can join in on. I will not stand for casual sexism, abuse that is camouflaged as humour, or anything that puts down the very women that have for so long felt like second class citizens in footy.

As Korver wrote in his article, “if you’re wearing my jersey at a game, know that about me. If you’re planning to buy my jersey for someone else, know that about me, (and) If you’re following me on social media, know that about me.”

People say we have two choices, to speak up or stay quiet. I disagree. I think I have three choices.

I can stay quiet, which I will not do. I can speak up, which I am. But the third choice is to act, which I will do to the best of my ability.

Now you know that about me. Join me. This is about more than footy.

This column was originally penned for FOX Sports