AFLW star Sarah Perkins calls out body-shaming after social media trolling

Gold Coast Suns AFLW forward Sarah Perkins has called out trolls who body-shamed her on social media.

Perkins kicked a goal and two behinds, took five marks and laid three tackles In a 5.4 (34) to 4.7 (31) loss to St Kilda and tweeted an apology to Suns fans on Monday.

Perkins took a strong pack mark in front of goal with a minute left in the game and her team down four, but the usually accurate goal-kicker sprayed her shot to the right, consigning the Suns to their fourth loss from eight games this season.

«Yesterday hurt a lot, but the sun came up this morning and I'm ready for a big week on the track and in front of goals,» she wrote.

«Sorry to the @GoldCoastSUNS fans but please stick with us.»

The fan favourite, known as 'Tex' since her time in Adelaide, Perkins received a number of replies commenting on her weight, posting screenshots of the tweets and sarcastically saying «this shit will never get old».

Injured Collingwood Magpies captain Steph Chiocci came to Perkins's defence, which elicited further trolling but was appreciated by Perkins.

AFL social and inclusion policy chief Tanya Hosch shared a video of Perkins's 55-metre goal of the year nominee against the Bulldogs, saying the foundation AFLW player had been making the league great from day one.

The AFL Players Association weighed in, saying: «There's no room for these kinds of comments. We're with you all the way, Perko.»