As the finishing touches are put in place by TAC Cup sides ahead of this season’s debut, there’s double the excitement at Calder Cannons.
AFL Victoria recently announced the launch of a new girls’ TAC Cup competition, with all clubs now fielding boys and girls sides.
While the Cannons fielded a side in the AFL youth girls academy competition last year, it’s a completely different ball game now.
Assistant coach Jason Peak, who has a long involvement in youth girls football, said he hadn’t seen anything like this before.
Collingwood vice-captain Alicia Eva will coach the Cannons’ team.
“It’s very significant, the facilities and the plan in place for girls,” Peak said. “I don’t think any girl that has just been playing local footy would have experienced that before. From the start of our program to now, we’ve experienced improvement in so many of them – it’s fantastic.”
The new TAC Cup competition and the launch of the AFLW has attracted many girls to footy, in many cases a return to the sport.
Whittlesea’s Chloe Molloy is a talented basketballer, who has played in the WNBL and represented Victoria on several occasions. She jumped at the opportunity to return to football.
“I put the footy down at the age of 12 or 13, as the pathway to football hadn’t developed for women or girls then,” she said. “I moved to basketball, [but] with the TAC Cup coming in and the AFLW, it kind of sparked something in me to get the footy back in my hand.
“Coming into this Cannons’ program with the opportunity to be part of the academy, and also be part of the first TAC Cup, is pretty amazing for me.”
Molloy said it hadn’t all been smooth sailing though, a ball to the face in her first training session was a quick and timely reminder about the differences between basketball and footy. She said juggling the two sports has been hard.
“I knew I could still kick … I wasn’t sure how my skills or knowledge would fit in with those girls who have been part of the academy for so long,” she said. “It is difficult and it kind of gets to the stage where you can be good at two sports, but if you want to be great at one, you’ve got to … drop one, even though you might love it. So, for me, I’m going through the stage ‘footy is back’ … I’m loving it and it makes me happy and that’s what I want to do.”
The Cannons kick off the season on Sunday against Gippsland Power in Frankston. The following week, they’ll play a double header before the boys team.
Peak said Molloy would be one of the players to watch this season. Molloy has played all over the field during pre-season matches.
He said stars Monique Conti and Madison Prespakis, who are both part of the NAB AFL Women’s National Academy, would be another two key players. He also said to keep an eye on Georgia Patrikios and Felicity Theodore.
“It’s been a long preparation,” he said.
“We started before Christmas and had a few sessions … down at the Essendon Football Club.
“We’ve had four practice matches since then,” he said.
“The girls are well and truly raring to go and play the real thing.”
