From Senior Detective Constable to North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroo, Georgia Hammond is no stranger to hard work. 

One of five women in the Victorian Police Academy training squad in 2013, Hammond believes gender shouldn’t deter dreams. 

“If you want to do it, you should be able to regardless of your gender or how you identify,” Hammond said. 

“It is important to know you don’t have to fit a certain mould or be what someone else thinks you need to be.

“For me it was an internal challenge.

“I wanted to be just as good as the boys, because I’d grown up playing footy in the boys team.

“It was the same at work; I wanted to be just as good and didn’t want to be seen as anything less because I was a girl, or not perform as well or not as fit.”

In just over a decade, Hammond has seen a shift in society that provides more opportunities for females to chase their dreams.

“I played Auskick with the boys and then moved to Fitzroy Junior Football Club where I was the only girl on my team,” she said. 

“I didn’t even know women’s football clubs existed until I was much older when I found the Darebin Falcons.

“To now think that there are all girls’ junior clubs and rep footy, it’s amazing and incredible to think they have the same pathways and the same opportunities.”

Drafted to the Kangaroos with pick 44 in the 2020 NAB AFLW Draft, Hammond says she is grateful for the support and positive culture throughout her football career.

“I’ve come from Darebin which is known for its strong family culture and being inclusive and it is the exact same at North Melbourne,” Hammond said. 

“I couldn’t have been luckier with the experience here. 

“Everyone is so welcoming. You walk in alongside the boys and male staff, but no one is treated any differently.

“It is so important for females to feel as though they fit in whether that is at work or footy or just in their general day-to-day life.”