Rosie Malone opens up on Hockeyroos exit and how football helped her re-find her identity

Rosie Malone has shed light on her new footballing venture, the possibility of playing in the A-League and what her hockey future holds. Details inside.

Rosie Malone in action for the Hockeyroos in 2023. Photo: Simon Watts/www.bwmedia.co.nz @bwmedianz

Former national team star Rosie Malone admits she has not set foot on a hockey field since her bitter split with the Hockeyroos due to the trauma she still feels about her harrowing exit.

Instead, she is focused on her switch to football and the potential of one day running out for an A-League side.

Malone was one of the top hockey talents in the country and made more than 100 appearances for the national side before her ugly fall out with Hockey Australia in 2024.

“I’m not playing this year, I haven’t been able to step on the hockey field myself because I think there’s still a lot of trauma around that whole situation,” she said.

“I haven’t heard from Hockey Australia since my exit meeting at the end of last year so I don’t really have any contact with them.

“If there comes a time where I feel like I want to step back on the hockey field I will, but at the moment, I’m just really loving my soccer.”

The 27-year-old used football as an escape and an avenue to fulfil her competitive desire and is currently a member of the Gold Coast Knights women’s NPL side.

“It has been something that has really kept me going and helped me re-find my love in sport,” she said.

Rosie Malone will be part of the Knights' debut NPL Women season. Picture: Facebook.

“I have a wonderful team and wonderful coaches and the club’s been really supportive.

“It has been a bit challenging with everything that went on last year and I think when you’re an elite athlete and with the Hockeyroos stuff, you lose that part of your life, it is really hard to almost re-find your identity.

“I’ve like tried to stay involved in soccer throughout my whole Hockeyroos career, whether it was just coming home and watching the girls or joining in a session here and there.

“So to be able to come back and actually be a part of the team properly and play with them has been something that’s really special and I feel myself almost trying to go back to how I used to be when I was playing soccer.”

Malone was a talented footballer as a junior and represented Australia in the sport in 2010 for the under-13s AFC Festival of Football in Vietnam and as an under-14 in 2012, earnt selection into Australia’s under-17 Junior World Cup squad.

Asked if she would consider using the Gold Coast Knights as a platform to push for an A-League Women’s contract, Malone did not rule out the possibility.

“At the moment I’m really just trying to enjoy being in this moment right now and having fun with my soccer and my team,” she said.

“I’m someone who never does anything in halves and I’ll throw the kitchen sink at it.

“So if anything comes from this - awesome - but also at the same time I will be really content with just doing NPL if that’s how it is because I’m really enjoying playing with the girls and the team.”

Rosie Malone in action for the Gold Coast Knights. Picture: Facebook.

As for her hockey career, Malone has turned to coaching at a junior level which has helped her fulfil her passion for the sport.

“I had to take a bit of a step away from it for a while, it was really hard for me to be involved and associated,” she said.

“But at the start of this year, I started coaching again so I just went back to coaching a lot of local Gold Coast junior players, I’m now coaching masters hockey players which I’m loving as well.

“And that’s helped me to remind myself of some of the really good people in the sport and the reasons why I love the sport.”

Malone has used this opportunity to make up for lost time and embrace her passions which she has put to the side due to her hockey commitments.

“I’m just trying to really enjoy the moments, there’s so many moments that I missed out of my life as an elite athlete, you’re away from home, travelling overseas, you can’t work properly,” she said.

“I have really enjoyed getting back into journalism stuff that I want to do, my soccer, being on the Gold Coast, so that’s my focus at the moment.”