THE off season in the AFLW always brings many changes for every club. Players retire, are moved on, or are traded. These changes mean there are holes in sides that need to be filled, and players need to step up and fill them. In this series we’re going to take a look at some of the players to watch in 2022 that might fill the holes in their sides.
In today’s inaugural article in the series, we’re taking a look at St Kilda’s Molly McDonald.
Molly McDonald
League/s: AFLW, Vflw, Coates Talent League Girls, AFLW U18 Championships
Season/s: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, S7, 2023, 2024
Games [tot]: 55
Goals [tot]: 15
Disposals [avg]: 11.2
Marks [avg]: 1.8
Tackles [avg]: 3
Cont. Poss: 2.9
Uncont. Poss: 4.5
Clearances: 0.7
Inside 50s: 2
Rebound 50s: 1.2
On the injury front, this preseason has been one to forget for the poor Saints. They lost Paige Price to a hip injury, and they’ve lost Tyanna Smith to a season ending anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. This is on top of potentially losing Georgia Patrikios for the season due to the AFL’s mandate.
The loss of Smith and Patrikios in particular will leave a huge hole in St Kilda’s midfield that will need to be filled quickly. So, which one of their players is going to step up and fill the hole left by the pair?
Enter a potential candidate – Molly McDonald.
Fans might remember McDonald made a bit of history in 2020 as St Kilda’s inaugural goal scorer in the AFLW.
Unfortunately for McDonald, back-to-back quad strains limited her to only five games in 2021. This means she will be looking to come back stronger than ever in 2022.
McDonald is a running machine, who can win plenty of the ball. Over her AFLW career she has averaged around 10 disposals per game, which although isn’t ground breaking is still a solid number. Without Patrikios and Smith around, there will be the room for McDonald to step up and win more of the ball.
With the likes of Kate McCarthy getting older, and Patrikios’ future uncertain, 2022 could be a big year for McDonald. It could be the year she becomes one of the stars of AFLW and sets St Kilda up for success. Only time will tell.
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