Stay up to date with the latest AFLW news ahead of Round 9

Collingwood AFLW star Chloe Molloy has opened up on the wide-ranging effects of a back injury that should be far beyond her years, which has included being forced to take time off work.

MELBOURNE. 2702/2022. AFLW . Collingwood v Western Bulldogs at Victoria Park, CollingwoodÉ. Chloe Molloy of the Magpies celebrates a 1st qtr goal . Photo by Michael Klein

Collingwood star Chloe Molloy has revealed she has been left struggling to walk by a crippling back injury that has plagued her AFL Women’s season.

But she is determined not to let the cruel blow derail a potential finals tilt.

Molloy, 23, has played seven games this season despite the back issue that has been caused by what she described as “overload”.

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Chloe Molloy (far right) was among the Fox Sports luminaries at the season launch.

The 2018 AFLW Rising Star opened up on Wednesday on the wide-ranging effects of the injury that should be far beyond her years, which has included being forced to take time off work behind the scenes at Fox Footy in an effort to recover and play.

“I haven’t actually been training a whole lot,” the Magpie said.

“There were times where I struggled to walk, and I actually had to take time off work (to try and rest).

“That’s the unfortunate with the part-time nature of AFLW. I’d take time off work just so I could lie down because I was in that much pain with my back, which is an overload issue.”

Chloe Molloy has had to have injections in her back.

AFL Women’s players are pushing to become full-time professionals by 2026 as many players face juggling work, study, training and games.

Molloy said she had endured a number of injections in her back just in order to get onto the field as the AFLW season has also combatted tight turnarounds between games as it battles the effects of the Covid crisis.

“It’s been quite painful and something that I’ve had to manage,” she said at the Fox Footy AFL season launch.

“I’m too young to be having back issues, so it’s something that’s a little bit annoying.

Molloy is eyeing a finals berth with the Pies.

“It hasn’t been the season that I wanted, personally, so there’s obviously physical challenges and mental challenges with that.

“At the end of the day, we’ve just got to get out there and play. You put yourself out there and you are responsible to say that you are 100 per cent (right), so there’s no way that you’ll keep me off the field and I’ll do anything to get out there.”

Key Collingwood midfielder Brit Bonnici has been sidelined for the remainder of the season after rupturing her ACL, meaning Molloy will now step in to fill the void.

“I’ll be running through the midfield a bit more and do whatever it takes to bring the team to finals,” she said.

Vow to ban online trolls after star’s body shaming

- Nick Smart

The AFL will suspend the club or league memberships of any social media troll found to be abusing its players after vile slurs were levelled at AFLW fan-favourite Sarah Perkins this week.

The league, the AFL Players’ Association, the Gold Coast Suns and the football community have all condemned the body shaming of the popular AFLW star.

Perkins, an AFLW premiership player affectionately known as ‘Tex’, took to Twitter to call out online abuse following her apology to Suns fans after a narrow loss to St Kilda last weekend.

Footy’s back! Everything you need to know for 2022 is in the Herald Sun footy magazine. On sale Saturday, Feb 26 $7.95 with the Herald Sun. Click here for more details.

One Twitter user sarcastically replied “Peak athleticism”, while another joined in by posting: “I think she should go for a jog.”

Perkins tweeted in response: “2 from 2 this evening … anyone other bloke/fake account wanna comment on my size, body shape, athleticism? More than happy to hear feedback about my football skill/ability but unfortunately not everyone can be a size 6!”

The 28-year-old also posted a screenshot of one of the nasty comments with the caption: “S**t like this will never get old” and adding two emojis of a hand sticking its middle finger up.

2 from 2 this evening… anyone other bloke/fake account wanna comment on my size, body shape, athleticism?

More then happy to hear feedback about my football skill/ability but unfortunately not everyone can be a size 6! @Steph_Chiocci ❤️🤝 pic.twitter.com/LyQKfEeWXs

— Sarah Perkins (@sarahperkins28) February 28, 2022

People are just jealous they have never achieved anything worth posting about. Got your back always. Can’t wait to see you kick more snags from 50m out and lay tackles like a boss ❤️

— Steph Chiocci (@Steph_Chiocci) February 28, 2022

AFL social and inclusion policy chief Tanya Hosch told the Herald Sun the league would crack down hard on social media trolls if identified.

“We’re very clear that this behaviour is completely unacceptable, but we’re a sporting code and not the law,” Hosch said.

“So our jurisdiction doesn’t really extend unless we can firstly locate the person who’s done it, and quite often they’ve used fake or burner accounts to maintain their anonymity so they can’t be personally located.

“If we are able to locate them, and they happen to be a paid member of the AFL or an AFL club, their membership from the AFL or the club will be suspended straight away.”

Hosch said the effect of the social media abuse was worse than many realised.

“Disappointing is not a strong enough word, because the thing is someone like Sarah I know will be embraced and supported,” she said.

Gold Coast fan-favourite Sarah Perkins was subjected to vile online trolling.

“But the thing you have to realise is there will be other people that have had these comments levelled at them before who don’t have that kind of support.

“So its impact always reaches much further than people realise, and it’s just completely unnecessary behaviour to sledge, humiliate or denigrate people for any reason.”

AFLPA general manager of player and stakeholder relations, Brett Murphy, labelled the online abuse as “unacceptable.”

“It’s completely unacceptable that AFLW players continue to be bombarded with online harassment,” he said.

“No one ever deserves to be bullied and harassed.

“Since the inaugural AFLW season, we’ve seen numerous examples of the vitriol targeting our members.

You hurt Sarah Perkins, you cop the wrath of us all.

— Emma Race (@Emsyanna) February 28, 2022

“It’s an embarrassing stain on parts of our society that these views are not only held, but expressed so willingly.

“We applaud Sarah and everyone who has called out this unacceptable behaviour, and urge everyone to do the same so social media platforms become more inclusive, safer and better communities.”

The Suns said they “condemn” the comments and had reported the online accounts and their comments to Twitter bosses.

Collingwood AFLW star Steph Chiocci was one of many big names to leap to Perkins’ defence, leaving a reply on the Suns star’s Twitter post.

“People are just jealous they have never achieved anything worth posting about,” Chiocci tweeted.

“Got your back always. Can’t wait to see you kick more snags from 50m out and lay tackles like a boss.”

RESEARCH COULD HELP END AFLW ACL SCOURGE

—Lauren Wood

A Queensland researcher has identified key factors that could pinpoint AFL Women’s players that are at a higher risk of suffering ACL injuries before they happen.

Gold Coast-based PhD candidate Tyler Collings has headed up a Griffith University study that has examined female Australian rules players to better understand the high ACL injury rates.

Star Collingwood midfielder Brittany Bonnici confirmed on Monday that she was the latest AFLW player to suffer the injury this season, with Saints ruck Rhiannon Watt confirmed as another ACL victim on Monday night after she was also felled on Sunday.

Their injuries take the total for the season – including the pre-season – to 11 players after eight rounds.

Recent research has indicated that women are nine times more likely to rupture their ACL than male counterparts.

Collings’ study – which is the first ever to be conducted with elite Australian footballers – used field-based testing equipment to analyse players’ strength and biomechanics in pre-season.

The findings indicated that an estimated 75 per cent of high-risk candidates could be identified, with the potential to have their training programs tailored in an effort to negate potential serious injury.

Britt Bonnici became the latest victim of an ACL injury in AFLW. Getty Images

“Together with the support of Brisbane based sports technology company VALD Performance, we identified certain tests that identify these players who are at high risk,” he explained to News Corp.

“They do move in a different way, they control their knee and trunk positions differently during hopping, they have different hip strength profiles and they have different jumping force profiles.

“What we’re really interested in is using this equipment and arming the physios who are working with these players to be able to test them in pre-season, identify where there may be these deficits and then make choices about injury prevention.”

He included 120 AFLW players in the study that examined some 400 female players from across the country.

AFL Women’s players engage in the league’s Prep to Play program which endeavours to strengthen players’ bodies in an effort to combat potential injury.

Collings said preparation of players’ bodies over a longer period could have a positive effect in reducing the growing numbers of the injury at the top level.

Isabel Huntington suffered her heartbreaking third ACL tear this year. Getty Images

“Within our study, we identified several potentially modifiable factors that increase a player’s risk of going on to sustain an ACL injury,” he said.

“If you have those tools, then hopefully we’re able to personalise things more than what we’re currently doing.”

The results of the study will be published in coming weeks.

Matthew Bourne, senior lecturer of exercise and sport at Griffith University, said that the team is eager to work more closely with the AFL “to help reduce the extraordinary rate and burden of ACL injuries”.

“Tyler’s study is the first to ever explore strength and biomechanical risk factors for ACL injury in female Australian footballers, and therefore represents the first step towards designing more targeted, evidence-based injury prevention programs in this cohort.”

He said more investment in applied research is a must.