"I know I’m quite small in frame but I don’t want to be known as a small footballer, I’d prefer to be known as Georgia Gee the footballer."

Georgia Gee is fed up being known as a small footballer. 

Talking on the Behind the Game Changers podcast, Gee noted the double standards within the AFLW, where commentators or players feel comfortable commenting on someone's weight if they are small. 

Observing that they would not do this with bigger players, Gee wants the double standards to stop and to start an open conversation about body-image issues. 

“A lot of people don’t know about it, obviously it’s an insecurity that a lot of people don’t know about because I don’t talk about it enough,” Gee said. 

“I think there’s been a few times when the commentators have said ‘there’s Georgia Gee, only weighs 47kgs’ and there’s been times when I’ve watched the game back and heard that and it’s kind of shit.”

Gee first spoke about her insecurities with the Part-Timers media platform, where she wrote a moving piece about her issues with the double standards within the AFLW landscape. 

Not initially knowing what to focus on, Gee decided this might be a good thing for people struggling with the same issues to read about. 

“When I started writing that story, I kind of got in my head that this would be a good thing for younger girls or younger boys or anyone growing up or older people who have the same issues as me in terms of their body or body shape,” she said. 

“It sort of clicked that I think I need to talk about it a bit more and it’s actually not ok with the comments that are made.” 

Unfortunately, this has been a life-long issue for Gee, reflecting on the comments people made about her size and weight from as early as under-10s football. 

“I remember when I was playing juniors, Dad was the coach so he would give out the coaches awards, those Maccas coaches awards,” she said. 

“There would be people who say ‘she’s skinny and little, just give her the Maccas award so she can eat more burgers to gain some weight’.” 

“Dad hated it, he didn’t say anything back but he’d come home and be fuming because he knew it would affect me.”

Gee admitted that without talking about it, she can’t expect people to know her insecurities, but also offered that commenting on people's appearance rather than commenting on their game is something that doesn’t help athletes. 

“I remember there were times on game day where girls would say ‘oh you look like you’ve lost a bit of weight’,” she said.  

“To some people that’s a compliment, but to me I’m like 'it’s actually really hard for me to put on weight', that’s a big thing for me.” 

Now that Gee has identified her struggles within herself, she has put herself to work improving her game and her mental state as she continues her AFLW career. 

“I know the majority of the girls out there are bigger and stronger than me, so I’m finding advantages around that,” she said. 

“If I know I’m on a bigger girl in a game, I try to run rings around them, knowing they’re not as quick, trying to build a bit more muscle and strength as well.

“I think the mental side is trying not to let it get to me and just try and do the best I can out there.”