One of the leading players in Queensland’s top Australian rules football women’s league is a male who claims to be “transgender”.
Hayley Finning, who once played representative ice hockey as a male under the name Liam, now plays for the Wilston Grange Gorillas in the Queensland Australian Football League Women’s (QAFLW).
The QAFLW announced in a social media post on Wednesday that Finning was on top of the intercept and marks leaderboard, and is far ahead of the next closest competitor.
Finning, who has “transgender” and homosexual pride flags on his Instagram profile, previously played for the Waratah Football Club in Darwin, and for the Melbourne Demons Ice Hockey Club.
A concerned fan told Noticer News he was present at a game on the weekend where he said Finning was “dominating against actual women”.
“No opposing teams have been made aware of this, other than through innuendo and Chinese whispers, and there’s been no questions asked as to how any opponents feel playing in a full contact sport against someone who’s a male,” he said.
He also shared a video of Finning on the field in which he called the situation “absolutely ludicrous”.
There is another male who claims to be “transgender” playing in a women’s AFL league – this time in Queensland.
Hayley Finning (number 47) plays for the Wilston Grange Gorillas in the QAFLW and is currently at the top of a leaderboard. pic.twitter.com/imPaRIo3Cj
— N News (@NoticerNews) August 13, 2026
Noticer News contacted the QAFLW and the Wilston Grange Gorillas for comment about their policies towards males who claim to be “transgender” playing on women’s teams, but did not receive a response.
The AFL has been under fire in recent days after ruling that six-foot-three 90kg “transgender” male player Freya Golding should be allowed to play in the Adelaide Footy League women’s competition.
The Gender Diversity Policy Committee said in its verdict that Golding should be allowed to continue to play on the women’s team, after she was the subject of safety complaints from three other clubs.
The decision sparked global outrage after being criticised by women’s rights groups, with tennis great Martina Navratilova and actor John Cleese among those to raise concerns.
“Australia is really messed up when it comes to women’s rights,” Navratilova said, while Cleese described the AFL’s decision as “pure madness”.
The AFL’s Gender Diversity Policy requires AFLW players who claim to be “transgender” to show low testosterone levels to be eligible, but allows self-identification at lower levels, with individual decisions appealable before the committee.
Header image: Left, Hayley Finning (Instagram). Right, the QAFLW leaderboard (QAFLW).
