Photo Credit: Michael Willson/AFL Photos
Tonight does see Melbourne kick off its 2026 campaign against Hawthorn at Ikon Park.
Amongst the excitement of the beginning of a new campaign, there is also excitement of a different kind for one particular Dees star, with Tahlia Gillard set to play her 50th AFL Women’s match tonight.
It has been a rollercoaster of a career thus far for Gillard, but to celebrate this milestone let us take a look back at her career to date and her evolution as a player.
Early days at the Dees
Gillard was drafted to the Dees with pick 42 in the 2021 AFL Women’s Draft, the second of three draft picks the Dees used on the night, getting drafted alongside Georgia Campbell and Alison Brown.
Although she has become well known for her defensive exploits in the last five years, she actually played a lot of her junior football as a forward with some short stints in the ruck. However, coming into a side with the likes of Campbell, Eden Zanker and the then recently recruited Tayla Harris, it is not a surprise to see she was retrained to be the defender she is today.
Despite this, game time was hard to come by for Gillard in her first season in red and blue. As the newbie behind more experienced defenders in Gabby Colvin and Libby Birch – and even players like Brenna Tarrant – Gillard only got to play three games in her debut season, debuting in round 7.
Taking her opportunities with both hands
However, it would not be too long before Gillard was handed a prime opportunity to get regular game time and prove herself, and that is what she certainly did.
Just before Season 7/the second season of AFLW played in the 2022 calendar year, Colvin ruptured her ACL, ruling her out for the entire upcoming campaign. This meant there was now an open spot in the starting line up for Gillard to claim as her own, partnering Birch in the last line of defence.
And make it her own she certainly did, making the most of the consistent game time to shine at the heart of Melbourne’s defence, really utilising her huge height advantage and her agility that defies that height to become a really tough player to counter the influence of.
This all really came to the fore in the Grand Final of that season, where Gillard played a crucial role on Jessie Tawhiao-Wardlaw, really neutralising the influence of the star at-the-time Brisbane forward which went a long way to helping ensure the Dees broke through for their first ever AFLW Premiership.
However for reasons yet to be explained to this day she did not win the award for Best on Ground in that Grand Final, much to the confusion and annoyance of plenty of Dees fans.
The player she has become
That season really was a turning point in Gillard’s AFL Women’s career.
It helped cement her spot in the line up and made her a first choice player in any Dees side.
These days despite only being 22 years of age she is now the senior tall defender in the Melbourne line up, being the rock at the heart of the defence and being the guiding pillar of the entire back five.
What does the rest of this star defender’s career have in store? Only time will tell.
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