Chloe Molloy looming as top pick in AFLW draft after blistering start to VFL Women’s season
CHLOE Molloy returned to football only a few months ago after giving away basketball, but she is already the talk of the VFL Women’s competition.
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CHLOE Molloy only returned to football just a few months ago but she is already the talk of the VFL Women’s competition.
The code-hopper gave away a promising career in basketball to resume football, which she quit as a 13-year-old as her hoops career took off.
Molloy, 18, was one of Australia’s hottest female basketball prospects, having previously been listed as a development player by WNBL side Melbourne Boomers.
RELATED: Calder Cannons spearhead Chloe Molloy scoops TAC Cup Girls awards in premiership season
The Whittlesea resident, the niece of former Fitzroy, Brisbane and Collingwood forward Jarrod Molloy, also signed with American college outfit Virginia Commonwealth University on a scholarship last year.
But five rounds into the VFL Women’s competition, the Diamond Creek sharp shooter sits atop the goalkicking table with 16 majors — seven clear of the next best tally.
Diamond Creek and Collingwood captain Steph Chiocci said Molloy had the attributes of a top pick when the AFL Women’s draft rolls around in October.
“She is going to go high in the draft, there is no doubt about that, and I’m hoping she’s there when Collingwood have their pick,” Chiocci said.
“If she continues her form it might be hard to get her at pick 2.”
Molloy’s form for Calder Cannons throughout the inaugural TAC Cup Girls season was hard to ignore.
Molloy was a joint winner of the league best-and-fairest and finished with 20 majors in five games to be the competition’s leading goalkicker, helping pilot Calder to the premiership.
“She is probably one of the best junior footballers, if not the best junior footballer, I have ever seen,” Chiocci said.
As a forward, Molloy, who is in her first year of a sports media degree at Holmesglen Institute, has pace to burn, while her ability to work and think through traffic has translated from basketball to football.
Despite a seemingly burgeoning basketball career, she wanted to rekindle her passion for football.
Molloy made the tough call to leave basketball behind and take up football just before the inaugural AFL Women’s draft in October last year.
“With basketball, I just felt I had been in it for so long and I needed change,” Molloy said.
“I once loved footy so I thought, ‘why not go and see if I can re-spark the passion I had for it.’
“It was a massive decision but one of the best things I’ve done, with regards to it being my own personal decision and not having any other influences.
“It (getting drafted) would reassure me a lot more, even though I did have a promising career in basketball, that my choice to go to football will pay off.”
Diamond Creek coach Scott Gowans said he had been surprised as to how well Molloy had transitioned to football.
“Because of her height (171cm) and her speed, her versatility as a player, you could draft her as a small forward, lead-up forward or as a midfielder,” Gowans said.
“She is the right height mixed with the speed to play a number of roles.
“The next four of five weeks will really tell where Chloe sits as far as how high a draft pick she is.”
Gowans said Molloy’s willingness to learn and develop her game would hold her in good stead in the AFLW.
“It is really rare that you can get a person, male of female, that can come into a game and fit straight in from a skills and execution perspective,” he said.
“She receives feedback really well, she is still learning the game and that is why I think she will be a success at footy.”
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