Born in Mordialloc, Victoria, Layton began her career in 2004 for the Melbourne Kestrels. She then received a scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport in 2007, and was awarded captaincy in 2009. In 2008, Layton was signed to play for the Melbourne Vixens in the ANZ Championship. She was not signed the following year, but in 2010 Layton transferred to the Adelaide Thunderbirds. In 2010 she was the winner of the ANZ Championship's young player of the year award. She was part of the Thunderbirds winning premiership team that year. The following year she was elevated to the position of vice-captain of the Thunderbirds under Captain Natalie von Bertouch, before becoming co-captain alongside von Bertouch in 2012. Her Thunderbirds career culminated with a stellar defensive performance in the 2013 ANZ Championship Grand Final, which Adelaide won 50-48 over the Queensland Firebirds. On 29 July 2013, Layton signed with the New South Wales Swifts, where she grew in popularity over the next three seasons and was elevated in the team's leadership group. In 2017, Layton was one of several high-profile signings for the Collingwood Magpies in the new Suncorp Super Netball league. After the conclusion of the 2017 season, which saw the Magpies fall short in a cliffhanger elimination final against the Giants, Layton revealed she would take an indefinite break from the sport due to severe exhaustion. Layton returned to the Magpies in time for the 2018 season. On 18 July 2018, Layton announced she would retire from all levels of netball at the end of the season. She finished her career having played in more than 140 domestic matches, winning two premierships with the Adelaide Thunderbirds and claiming a player of the year award in 2016. However, after playing for Collingwood's AFLW and VFLW sides in 2019, in December Layton registered to play netball with Peninsula Waves in 2020 in the Victorian Netball League.
International
Layton was a member of the Australian U21 team from 2006–09 winning gold at the 2009 World Youth Netball Championships in the Cook Islands where she was vice captain of the side. Later that year, Layton was selected to debut for the Australian Netball Diamonds at the World Netball Championships in Singapore, where the team won a gold medal and the Holden Netball Test Series, regaining the No. 1 rank in the world. Following Layton's Grand Final performance she was named in the Australian Netball Diamonds squad to attend a selection camp at the AIS. Following the camp, Layton was named in the team to compete against New Zealand in the Constellation cup and Malawi later in 2013. In 2014 Layton was named in the Australian National Netball Team to compete at the 2014 Commonwealth Games who went on to defeat the New Zealand National Netball Team in the gold medal match. This ended Australia's 12 year Commonwealth Games gold medal drought. Layton did not feature in the 2018 Quad Series or Commonwealth Games teams. Layton ended her career having earnt 46 national team caps. She is a two-time International Player of the Year winner and she captained the Diamonds in 2017.
Shortly after retiring from netball, Layton was signed as a player with the Collingwood Football Club. Layton was part of Collingwood's VFL Women's premiership team in 2019.
