New AFL goal umpire Georgia Henderson earned her long-awaited debut during Essendon’s upset win over Melbourne.
The debut was a “dream come true” for the 24-year-old native South Australian, whose Gather Round debut gave friends and family the opportunity to pack the stands of Adelaide Oval and watch the product of a ten-year journey in umpiring.
Henderson, who begun umpiring at age 14 on the suggestion of fellow AFL umpire Braden Ford, began her career umpiring amateur footy in Adelaide.
“I was just at school at the time and wanted a bit of pocket money.”
“I feel like that’s the way that most of us started.”
Having made the jump to the SANFL soon after, Henderson progressed quickly from under 16s up to the senior men’s competition.
As the AFLW grew in scope and size, so did opportunities for up-and-coming umpires, with the league serving as an accelerator for state-league umpires with eyes for the AFL list.
Henderson joined the AFLW list in 2020 and would go on to flourish, winning the AFLW Umpiring Rising Star in 2022 before earning appointment to back-to-back Grand Finals in 2023 and 2024.
Her six seasons in the Women’s competition have been a highlight of her career to date.
“I loved it.”
“It’s so exciting to see that it gets better and better every year and it’s great to see so many females involved in the game; officiating the game.
Georgia Henderson is interviewed by Sarah Jones during the 2022 Season 7 W Awards at Crown Palladium. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos)
“There’re so many more females involved [in umpiring] now which is super exciting to see. I don’t remember many when I first started.”
It was in 2023 when Henderson, who splits her talents between umpiring and a successful soccer career, was forced to make a major career decision.
“I got offered to play soccer in Melbourne.”
Preston Lions Soccer Club had come calling, but the offer required her to uproot her life—and umpiring—in South Australia and find a new home in Melbourne.
“I thought if I could transfer from SANFL to VFL, that would be the way to go. That all ended up working out perfectly for me.”
“I think if that transfer from SANFL to VFL didn’t work out then I would have stayed in South Australia; umpiring was my priority.
“I absolutely love soccer, and it was a dream of mine to get to a higher level in soccer, but I knew that hopefully umpiring was going to be more of a career pathway for me.”
Since 2024 Henderson has been captain of the Preston Lions senior women’s team and was awarded the Women’s Best and Fairest last year.
The move east to the VFL did nothing to dampen the vigour of Henderson’s rapid rise through the umpiring ranks, as she backed up her AFLW success with a VFL Grand Final in 2025.
Between umpiring, soccer and work, managing her busy life is no small feat for Henderson.
“It’s a lot of commitment doing soccer training three days a week and then umpiring training one day a week with a few zoom calls along the way, and then juggling five days a week of work.”
For Henderson, who works in education support at a special development school, finding the balance to ensure she can handle all the moving parts her life has meant admitting some small concessions.
“Going down to four days a week has helped me; having Mondays off means I can meal prep for the week, do any of the cleaning and things I need to get done around the house.”
“I guess I don’t have a lot of free time. I do love being busy, so it does work for me.”
Despite the busyness it generates, Henderson does credit her soccer with helping to improve her umpiring, rather than being a competing interest.
“Playing and umpiring, they do have their relations in the sense of fitness and agility, reading the ball and stuff.”
With the promotion of 2025 VFL goal umpire of the year James Rizio to the AFL list at the end of last year, it looked like Henderson may have just missed the boat for the 2026 AFL season.
However, Chelsea Roffey’s decision to step back and take family leave for the 2026 season opened another spot on the goal umpiring list, and Henderson was first cab off the rank.
For goal umpires, the margins between success and failure can be minuscule as the top umps vie for position on the AFL list.
“I wasn’t sure if I’d actually get there.”
“It’s pretty cutthroat. If you do have that one positioning that’s incorrect, or a decision that isn’t right, it can cost you your season and lead you to not getting finals and things like that.”
Finally on the list, she’s had the opportunity to turn to look back at the ten-year journey that has taken her to the AFL.
“It’s definitely not been an easy journey. It definitely hasn’t been smooth sailing.”
“[There’s been] lots of disappointments, but you just keep your head down and bum up and keep working hard.
“I’ve been super lucky to have a lot of support around me. Amazing coaches, mentors and umpires who—whenever those rough times do come—they’re able to help you back on track.”
Upon her debut on Saturday Georgia has been awarded AFLUA heritage number 363.
The AFLUA would like to congratulate Georgia on making her AFL dream a reality.
Article by Jackson Kerr