A standing ovation in the QPAC Playhouse greeted the world premiere of Suzie Miller’s Strong is the New Pretty, a snappy 80-minute origin story of the AFLW directed by Sarah Giles.

Miller’s heroic version of events is described as “a fictional imagining by the playwright of true events”, drawing inspiration from interviews about the formation of the national professional AFL Women’s league. None of the women depicted, or any AFL team, were involved in the play’s development.

Amber McMahon (right) in Strong is the New Pretty. Photo © Morgan Roberts

Key characters have their identities lightly adapted for the play: Jan Cooper, former AFL National Manager – Female Football Development and colloquially referred to as the godmother of the AFLW, becomes Jane; inaugural Crows coach Bec Goddard is now Bev; and Sam Mostyn, the first female commissioner of the AFL in 2005 and champion of the creation of a women’s league, is the optimistic Alison.

Minor characters, such as the AFL CEO and the prominent sports journalist who literally wrote the book on AFLW, receive the same treatment.