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Caroline Layt battled discrimination and ignorance as Australia's first trans rugby league player - and now she's revealed she had to battle her own teammates, as well.
The 56-year-old trailblazer was playing women's first-grade rugby in Sydney in 2005 when she says she was bashed by six of her fellow players after her coach outed her a few weeks beforehand.
'The first one was holding my arms while the rest took turns punching my head... bang, bang, bang,' she said.
Her team's coach discovered she was trans during an incredible conversation when he said Layt didn't have any experience in the sport - and got a very unexpected comeback.
Layt excelled on the footy field, with her coach advising her to try to play for Australia
She knew it was 'wrong' for her to be male from the age of three or four and asked her father, 'Why can't I be a girl?' before transitioning just before turning 30
'I replied ... 'Well, actually, I played for Easts 20 years ago, against you,'' recalled Layt, who played a rugby league State of Origin match for NSW in 2007.
The following year she was playing in the same competition when a bounty was placed on her, with an elbow to the head worth $25.
'Whoever injured me the most, they got the cash,' she told the Daily Telegraph.
But despite having to deal with violence and intimidation, Layt insists her time in women's sport 'isn't a sad story'.
She started playing footy aged four, and was good enough to take the field for South Sydney in rugby league in her early 20s.
But all the while, something didn't feel right.
'From around three or four I knew,' Layt told Daily Mail Australia. 'I just knew it was wrong to be that way.
'I remember asking my dad, "Why can't I be a girl, why can't I be pretty?"'
