When Ally Anderson was designing this year’s AFLW Indigenous Guernsey, her first thought wasn’t of how to represent herself or her mob in the design, but of how to represent those around her.

“I was actually inspired by one of the Men’s Indigenous guernseys from a few years ago,” Anderson said.

“Allen Christensen actually approached me and the other Indigenous AFLW players a few years ago and asked if we wanted our totems included on the Men’s Indigenous guernsey.

“For him to include us that way, and then to see the boys run out in the guernsey with my totem on it and to be like ‘oh that’s me!’, it was just such a flattering and nice gesture.

“So, in going to design this guernsey, I wanted everyone to feel that way too, to be able to point to the guernsey and be like ‘That’s me!’, and not only the players, but our fans, supporters, friends and family, for everyone around us, to feel that too.”

And in doing so, Anderson has managed to represent everyone involved in the Club’s AFLW journey in her 2022 Indigenous guernsey design.

From the eight Foundation players and each of the current AFLW players, to their support staff, family, friends and supporters, Anderson has created a place for each of them.

Most importantly, she has created a space for the totems of herself and her two Indigenous teammates, Courtney Hodder and Dakota Davidson, on the back of the guernsey.

The emu representing Anderson, a proud Ghungalu woman.

The black swan for Davidson, representing her mob, the Gundmitjmarra people.

And the green sea turtle for Hodder, a totem passed onto her by her Uncle at birth.

Connected together through their journey at the Lions, Anderson says it was a non-negotiable to include the totems of her Indigenous AFLW teammates in her design.

“I felt like it was particularly important to include their totems in the design,”

“I positioned them to reflect where they’re from, so Courtney is on the left to reflect her home of Perth and then Dakota is more South as her mob is from South West Victoria, and then my totem is further north as we’re from Central Queensland.

“And then the background of each of the totems reflects where they’re from, so for Dakota it’s aquaculture in the blue and white background, and for Courtney and I it’s red dirt to represent the land.

“And then they’re all connected to reflect how we connected through the Lions.”

The guernsey will be the second-ever AFLW Indigenous guernsey for the Club, and Anderson is looking forward to pulling it on next Sunday against West Coast.

“I think everyone is really looking forward to wearing it next Sunday,”

“To have a guernsey that is so inclusive of everyone means that even though we’re playing away this weekend, we’ll be carrying those people with us and playing for them.”

The Lions will wear their 2022 AFLW Indigenous guernsey designed by Ally Anderson on Sunday February 27 against West Coast.

The auction for all match worn and player issued AFLW Indigenous guernseys will be live from 2pm. Head to lions.aflauctions.com.au to bid. Bidding closes March 3rd.

A limited supply of replica guernsey’s are now available at shop.lions.com.au.

Our 2022 Indigenous Guernsey was photographed by Darumbul and Yiman man, Trent White on Yuggera and Toorabul land.