‘Overrated, overpaid’: Tayla Harris’ nightmare

The 24-year-old has had a film crew following her for 12 months to capture what life behind the scenes is like after she became a target for abuse following her famous pose while kicking a Sherrin in 2019. Stream every match of every round of the 2022 Toyota AFL Premiership Season Live & Ad-Break Free In-Play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-Days Free Now >In a trailer for the Amazon Prime documentary Kick Like Tayla, Harris said she continues to receive personal attacks on social media “every day”. The 24-year-old said “things for various different reasons … kind of fell apart” in the last few years as her rise to football stardom was met with vitriol. “I know what they say. They tell me every day,” she said. “(That) I’m overrated, overpaid, just some girl who got lucky with a photo.“But they have no idea who I really am.“I don’t know what I expected with life becoming so public but I thought, if you just try to be kind, people will be kind back to you. The world doesn’t necessarily work that way.“Now every step I took, or every thing I did, was judged.”In the trailer, Harris recounts some of the messages she has received. “Pull down the statue,” she said, referring to the statue erected in Melbourne’s Federation Square in honour of her athletic kicking style. “Burn her on a stake.“People roasted me for never smiling, and never singing the song. I was like, what do you mean? I’m always smiling. I’m with my best mates, playing footy.”Harris is in tears in one clip as she admits the constant barrage has taken a toll on her. “I’m human too,” she said. “So of course it gets to me sometimes.”Her manager, Alex Saundry, said in recent years “it was just like her world was falling apart”.Harris has previously spoken out about the cyber abuse she has copped from “mostly normal blokes” in the aftermath of her drop punt photo going viral. After starting her AFLW career at Brisbane, Harris endured some lean years at Carlton where she struggled to hit the scoreboard and live up to her potential as one of the competition’s best players.She was traded to Melbourne last year after a messy exit from Carlton amid rumours she wasn’t committed at training and was seeking $150,000 a season from the Blues. Harris returned to her best form this year, kicking a career-high 18 goals and playing a key role in the Demons’ push to the AFLW Grand Final. They fell at the final hurdle, going down to the Adelaide Crows by 13 points in Saturday’s decider. Via news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site https://www.news.com.au