Cobden product Zach Merrett makes pledge to help fight gender inequality

They can stay quiet, speak up, or act.

But inspired by Utah Jazz NBA star Kyle Korver, who recently wrote an article detailing his intolerance to racial vilification toward ethnically diverse players, Merrett hopes to both speak up and act.

"Aside from playing footy and winning games for Essendon, I want to create a legacy that anyone else can join in on," the Bombers young gun wrote for FOX Sports.

"I will not stand for casual sexism, abuse that is camouflaged as humour, or anything that puts down the very women who have for so long felt like second-class citizens in footy."

Merrett said AFL photographer Michael Willson's iconic image of Carlton's Tayla Harris thumping a shot at goal was "more a cultural symbol than an action picture".

"It represents how far we've come but how far we still have to go," he said.

"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."

The 23-year-old recalled playing in Cobden Football Club's under 12s alongside Abbey Clarke and Cheyenne Rohan, at the time two of the side's best players.

He said there were no female changing rooms, meaning the two girls had to get dressed before the game.

But Merrett said that was the least of their worries.

"I clearly recall other teams referencing them more than any boy," he said.

"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."

And now he said this experience of playing with Clarke and Rohan allowed him to appreciate the need for complete equality from a young age as "more than just a half-baked pipe dream from men in powerful positions".

"Boys had a clear dream of playing AFL, while girls did not, rather, they could not," Merrett said.

"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.

"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."

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