By Marnie Vinall
When Sydney took the field against St Kilda on Sunday, the players were unaware their co-captain Chloe Molloy had suffered a serious ACL injury.
The star goalkicker and three-time All Australian was a late withdrawal after she sustained a knee injury at training that the club initially described as “knee soreness”. The Swans told media they were adamant it was soreness early Sunday afternoon, but the bad news was confirmed just before the first bounce at 3.05pm.
Chloe Molloy of the Sydney Swans.Credit: Getty
The choice to keep the news from her teammates group was made by Molloy, who wanted her teammates to focus on their upcoming match.
“I just felt a sense of responsibility that they hear it from my mouth first before they read a headline,” said Molloy, who told her teammates who weren’t playing as soon as the news broke.
“[After the game] I said, ‘I’m so sorry, I lied to all of you, I knew my results’ ... I had to mask it for a little bit because I did find out [earlier].
“It was weird, but also it’s game day, so I immediately went, ‘What’s my role today?’ It wasn’t to feel sorry for myself. I need to give to the team, even if I can’t be out there.”
Molloy kept a brave face when she arrived for the Swans’ game against St Kilda.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
Molloy admitted it was a shock to learn she’d damaged her anterior cruciate ligament.
“I was emotional, cried. I give so much to my football and there are so many expectations on me that my immediate response was I felt like I’d let down a lot of people,” she said.
“What ran through my head was, ‘How am I going to tell this group of girls that I can’t be out with on the field with them?’
“The immediate response was sadness, but now I look at it as an opportunity where my door now has closed on playing [this season] and I’ve got to find other ways to give.”
Sydney chief executive Tom Harley said scans late on Saturday showed what was at first a “very innocuous” training incident would put Molloy out for the season.
“So it’s really, really challenging for us. But knowing Chloe, she puts her all into everything, and she’ll do that with her rehab,” Harley told Fox Footy at half-time of the match.
“And so the girls are obviously focused on playing the game today, and I’m sure we’ll bunker down as a club after this game, regardless of the results, and move forward.”
The Swans built their list in 2022 around big-name recruits Molloy and fellow co-captain Lucy McEvoy, and will now need to adjust without the superstar.
That challenge for coach Scott Gowans started on Sunday, when the Swans were beaten by St Kilda by 16 points at Moorabbin. It was the AFLW’s 500th game.
Women join ‘Hokball’ celebrations
When Hawthorn’s Irish goalkicking star Aileen Gilroy launched a mammoth kick from 50 metres out to claim the opening goal against Collingwood in her 50th game, she pointed both her fingers out to mimic the umpires in a celebration. A week earlier, her goal celebrations drew her friendly flak from friends and family in her home country.
“I think it’s coming off, obviously, the back of the boys as well,” she told this masthead post the Hawks’ 47-point victory, which came the day after their men’s team won their elimination final against the Western Bulldogs. Both games featured the Hawthorn players leaning into fun goal celebrations and interacting with the crowd.
Aileen Gilroy of the Hawks celebrates kicking a goal against the Magpies.Credit: via Getty Images
“Sam Mitchell, he was here today, and Jack Gunston as well, he obviously helps in the forward line [as a women’s coach]. And it’s just like a flow on effect ... some of them are just so funny, but I try to keep it unique at the same time.
“When you see the boys doing it, you just want to be part of it.”
Hawthorn coach Daniel Webster said he was “all for” the players creating fun goal celebrations and showing their personalities on the field.
And why wouldn’t he be. Webster has two wins from two games in charge at Hawthorn, each victory a new highest score for the club and highest winning margin.
Power skipper’s horror injury run
Molloy wasn’t the only AFLW captain to injure their anterior cruciate ligament in round two. Port Adelaide’s Janelle Cuthbertson ruptured hers in her team’s Friday-night win against the Western Bulldogs.
Essendon co-captain Bonnie Toogood is also out for between six and eight weeks with a medial collateral ligament strain, sustained in round one.
While these injuries are a blow to their respective sides, the loss of marquee players also hurts the league and its marketability at a time when attention is at a premium.
The injury to the Power’s skipper is a road bump in the club’s third season and a bigger setback in the career of the defender. Since her debut in 2020, Cuthbertson has missed matches due to concussion, a broken cheekbone, broken nose, ankle, knee and finger.
Port Adelaide’s Janelle Cuthbertson is helped off the ground after rupturing her ACL.Credit: Getty Images
Last year she played just six matches due to a fractured eye socket and in 2022 missed the majority of season seven and six with a broken jaw.
The knee injury soured what was otherwise a great night for the Power, who put on a clinic against the Dogs, claiming a 40-point win. Julia Teakle enjoyed a night out with four goals.
In contrast, it was a baptism of fire for many of the pups in the Western Bulldogs side, as they recorded the club’s lowest ever AFLW score, managing just six behinds in the MCG clash.
Two crucial points come season’s end?
After North Melbourne downed reigning premiers the Brisbane Lions by 44 points in the grand final rematch last weekend, some pundits suggested they might produce an undefeated season.
While that’s still possible, the Roos didn’t get a win on Sunday.
Geelong, another finals favourite, kicked four of the last five goals of the game to erase an 18-point deficit at half-time and level the scores. Mikayla Bowen nailed the last major to take the scores to 36 points apiece, the match ending in a draw.
If it’s a tight race home for finals, those two points either way could make things interesting later in the year. But that’s for eight weeks’ time.
Earlier, Carlton looked like they were headed for their second loss of the season before Maddy Guerin slotted the match winner with two minutes on the clock. Sun Daisy D’Arcy leapt on the goal line to touch the ball, but score assist technology – introduced this season – helped the officials determine it was a goal, and the Blues hung on for a one-point win.
Speaking of sealers, Jesse Wardlaw’s long-range effort for St Kilda against Sydney was a beauty. She launched the ball from the centre square then followed behind as it bounced and bobbled all the way through the big sticks.
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