'Three photos of sport. There's a clear problem with one of them.'

Here are three photos published in their Friday’s newspapers. Can you spot anything peculiar?

There's Australian cricket champion David Warner, raising his bat in the air. Beneath him, Wallabies star Israel Folau, clapping his hands together.

Then there's the Aussie Diamonds captain, Sharni Layton. Oh, well in the interests of specificity, there's Sharni Layton's bum.

This comparison was brought to my attention by Mamamia's executive podcast producer, Monique Bowley, who few people know once played professional basketball. Upon seeing her Facebook status, which attracted a flood of critical comments, I bit my lip.

Why? Because I work in the media, and I know that photos are shot like this for a reason. They are chosen for a reason. They are cropped for a reason.

Almost nothing that appears in a newspaper or on a website is accidental or meaningless. Everyone in the industry knows that images are one of the most important communication tools, and people spend their days poring over every visual detail.

So when The Sydney Morning Herald included this photo of Sharni, there was a decision to not crop it at her waist, or at her hips. A very deliberate decision was made to crop it at her lower thigh, exposing her bum for every reader to see.

LISTEN: AFL Women's star Kate Sheahan on being a professional sportswoman. (Post continues...)

There's a second layer to my relationship with these images - I was once a semi-professional netballer.

While I was never good enough to appear in a newspaper, I actually grew up with some of the girls who are now in the Diamonds squad.

Over the years, I wore countless netball uniforms. As the sport was tailored for what TV execs and sponsors wanted, I experienced first-hand the evolution from bloomers and pleated skirts to A-line mini dresses with slits up the side.

That's what makes this a bigger issue than a photo in a newspaper - there's a problem with women's sport more widely. Like it or not, the pressure for female athletes to be seen as 'hot' while they sweat it out on the court is increasing with every year.

I don't buy into the idea that the uniforms are shrinking purely to increase mobility, either. A lot of the athletes who wear those itty bitty dresses desperately wish they were longer. I was one of them.

When was the last time you saw a rugby player flash a butt cheek? Or an AFL player wear shorts so tiny you could see his undies?

That photo of Sharni Layton - strong, powerful, willing - would have conveyed everything it needed to from a "sports" angle if it was cropped at the waist. It still would have been a brilliant shot of an inspirational woman at the pinnacle of sporting success without us seeing her undies and bum cheek.

Friday's newspapers are not an isolated case. The juxtaposition of sportsmen and sportswomen is a stark one in almost every sports section of every newspaper.

We don't yet see female athletes through a "sports" lens alone. Here's hoping that changes soon.