Tayla Harris

Tayla Harris (born 16 April 1997) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Carlton Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW) and professional boxer. She previously played for Brisbane in the inaugural AFL Women's season. As of September 2020, she is ranked as the world's fourth best active female middleweight boxer by The Ring[3] and ninth by BoxRec.[4]

Tayla Harris
Australian rules football career
Personal information
Date of birth (1997-04-16) 16 April 1997
Place of birth Brisbane, Queensland, Australia[1]
Original team(s) Zillmere (QAWFL)
Draft Marquee player, 2016: Brisbane
Debut Round 1, 2017, Brisbane
vs. Melbourne, at Casey Fields
Height 177 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Forward/ ruck
Club information
Current club Carlton
Number 7
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2017 Brisbane 08 0(4)
2018– Carlton 21 (21)
Total 29 (25)
Representative team honours
Years Team Games (Goals)
2017 Allies 1 (1)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of the 2020 season.
2 State and international statistics correct as of 2017.
Career highlights

AFLW

State

  • QAWFL best and fairest: 2012
Source: AustralianFootball.com
Boxing career
Statistics
Weight(s)Middleweight
NationalityAustralian
Boxing record[2]
Total fights8
Wins7
Wins by KO3
Losses0
Draws1

Early life and amateur career

Harris was born and raised in Brisbane's northern suburbs and began playing competitive football for Aspley at age five.[5] She played in a mixed competition with young girls and boys until 2010.[5]

At the age of 15, she began playing senior football for Zillmere in the AFL Queensland Women's League (QAWFL), where she won the league best and fairest award in her first season.[5] In 2017, following a move to Melbourne, she began playing in the VFL Women's competition with the St Kilda Sharks.[6]

She represented Queensland in the youth girls competition, and is a five time All-Australian.[7]

At the age of 17, she was drafted to the Melbourne representative side as part of the AFL women's exhibition series.[8] She continued to play for the club through 2016.[5] She also played as part of the Brisbane Lions' representative team in 2016.[9]

She attended primary school at Prince of Peace Lutheran College and high school at Albany Creek State High School.[5]

AFL Women's career

Harris was one of two marquee player signings announced by Brisbane in anticipation of the league's inaugural 2017 season.[7] She made her league debut in the club's inaugural match, in round 1, 2017, against Melbourne at Casey Fields. In round 2, she was nominated for the league Rising Star award for a two-goal, twelve disposal and seven mark performance against Fremantle,[10] and also was named "Player of the Week" by the AFL Players Association.[11] At the conclusion of two rounds she was ranked equal fourth in the league for total goals scored (two) and first in the league for contested marks (eight).[12]

At the end of the season, Harris was listed in the 2017 All-Australian team.[13]

Prior to the 2017 AFLW trade period, Harris expressed her desire to be traded to a Victorian club. The trade period started on 15 May.[14] Early talks between Brisbane and Carlton faltered; although Carlton offered Bianca Jakobsson in trade, Brisbane wanted an additional player. Melbourne also made an offer for Harris.[15] On 25 May 2017, Harris was traded to Carlton in a complex trade involving four teams, five players and a draft pick.[16]

She played six matches with her new club in 2018 and kicked five goals, tying Darcy Vescio and sharing the club's leading goalkicker award with her.[17]

AFLW statistics
Statistics are correct to the end of Round 1 of the 2021 season.[18]
Legend
 G  Goals  B  Behinds  K  Kicks  H  Handballs  D  Disposals  M  Marks  T  Tackles
AFLW playing statistics
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game) Votes
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
2017 Brisbane 784945115623160.51.15.61.47.02.92.06
2018 Carlton 2265648115920190.81.08.01.89.83.33.24
2019 Carlton 788750136325211.00.96.31.67.93.12.60
2020 Carlton 778555187326171.10.77.92.610.53.72.43
2021 Carlton 7100426340.00.04.02.06.03.04.00
Career 30 25 27 202 55 257 97 77 0.8 0.9 6.7 1.8 8.6 3.2 2.6 13


Professional boxing record
Professional record summary
8 fights 7 wins 0 losses
By knockout 3 0
By decision 4 0
Draws 1
No. Result Record Opponent Type Round, time Date Location Notes
8 Win 7–0–1 Janay Harding TKO 4 (8), 0:58 22 Nov 2019 The Melbourne Pavilion, Flemington, Victoria, Australia Won vacant Australian female super-welterweight title
7 Win 6–0–1 Margarite Butcher TKO 2 (8), 1:18 18 Oct 2019 The Melbourne Pavilion, Flemington, Victoria, Australia Won Australian female middleweight title
6 Win 5–0–1 Renee Gartner TKO 2 (5), 1:53 14 Aug 2019 ICC Exhibition Centre, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
5 Draw 4–0–1 Sarah Dwyer MD 8 17 Nov 2018 The Melbourne Pavilion, Flemington, Victoria, Australia For vacant Australian female middleweight title
4 Win 4–0–0 Janay Harding UD 5 7 Sep 2018 The Melbourne Pavilion, Flemington, Victoria, Australia
3 Win 3–0 Margarite Butcher UD 6 4 Aug 2018 The Melbourne Pavilion, Flemington, Victoria, Australia
2 Win 2–0 Tessa Tualevao MD 4 23 Sep 2017 Eatons Hill Hotel, Eatons Hill, Queensland, Australia
1 Win 1–0 Margarite Butcher UD 4 24 Jun 2017 Eatons Hill Hotel, Eatons Hill, Queensland, Australia

Online harassment
The original picture

A picture taken by AFL Media photographer Michael Willson showing Harris kicking for goal during a 2019 match against the Western Bulldogs became the target of sexual Internet trolling after it was posted on social media by Seven Network.[19] Harris re-tweeted the photograph with the caption: "Here’s a pic of me at work... think about this before your derogatory comments, animals".[19] Critics of the trolls included fellow AFLW players Erin Phillips and Darcy Vescio, Geelong player Patrick Dangerfield, cyclist Anna Meares, AFLW head of football Nicole Livingstone and Australian Football League chief executive Gillon McLachlan, and federal minister for women Kelly O'Dwyer.[20][21] Phillips, Vescio, Meares and O'Dwyer joined the chorus of people condemning Seven's decision to remove the photo, which was perceived as yielding to the trolls. It was later reinstated with an apology.[20][21]

On 11 September 2019, a bronze statue immortalising the image was unveiled in Federation Square Melbourne.[22]

On 27 February 2020, Tayla Harris was announced as an ambassador for Our Watch - an organisation tasked with preventing violence against women and their children.[23]

Personal life

Harris lives in Melbourne with her partner Sarah and dogs Charlie, Oscar and Beans.[24]

See also

References
  1. Sunday Session: Tayla Harris on boxing, footy and internet trolls
  2. "Boxing record for Tayla Harris". BoxRec.
  3. "The Ring Women's Ratings". The Ring. 8 September 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  4. "BoxRec: Female middleweight ratings". boxrec.com. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  5. "Tayla Harris AFL". TLA Worldwide. TLA. Archived from the original on 24 October 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  6. Olle, Sarah (29 May 2017). "AFLW: Tayla Harris explains why she decided to move from Brisbane to Carlton". Fox Sports. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  7. "Profile: Tayla Harris". Brisbane Lions. Bigpond. 27 July 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  8. "Dream Comes True for Trainee Tayla Harris". AFL Sports Ready. 20 May 2014. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  9. Matthews, Bruce (17 May 2016). "Not yet, Tayla: Lions jump gun in attempt to sign women's ace". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  10. "Tayla Harris and Lily Mithen named AFLW Rising Star nominees after Round 2 performances". Fox Sports. News Corp Australia. 14 February 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  11. "AFLW Player of the Week: Round 2". AFLPA. 14 February 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  12. @championdata (13 February 2017). "AFLW Player Stat Leaders after Round 2 matches.(Ties ordered by games played, player name)" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  13. Navaratnam, Dinny (28 March 2017). "Lions, Crows dominate AFLW All Australian team - AFL.com.au". AFL.com.au. BigPond. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
  14. Sheahan, Kate (10 May 2017). "Brisbane marquee Tayla Harris set to test AFLW trade period". foxsports.com.au. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  15. Cherny, Daniel (19 May 2017). "AFLW trades: Demons enter Tayla Harris fray as Brisbane reject Carlton offer". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  16. "Lion turns Blue as complex deal seals trade - AFL.com.au". afl.com.au. Telstra Media. 25 May 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  17. "AFL WOMEN'S PREMIERSHIP SEASON - EVERY GOALKICKER". Australian Football. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  18. "Tayla Harris - Player Stats By Season". Australian Football. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  19. "AFLW 2019: Footy community supports Tayla Harris after awful comments on brilliant photo". Fox Sports Australia. News Corp Australia. 20 March 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  20. Wood, Patrick; Maasdorp, James (20 March 2019). "Tayla Harris says trolls' social media comments on AFLW photo were 'sexual abuse'". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  21. "Tayla Harris: online comments amount to 'sexual abuse', says AFLW player". The Guardian. Australian Associated Press. 20 March 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  22. Symons, Kasey (10 September 2019). "Tayla Harris has been immortalised in bronze. It is a win for women's sport | Kasey Symons". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
  23. "Our Watch welcomes sporting heavyweights, Tayla Harris and Tiffany Cherry as ambassadors". Our Watch. 27 February 2020. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  24. Drummond, Celia. "From the kick to a punch: Ringside with Tayla Harris". AFLW. Australian Football League. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
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