![\"\"](\"http:\/\/afldraftcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/MOLLOY-300x200.jpg\")
<\/p>\nCHLOE Molloy is relishing the opportunity to rediscover her love of football after having to give it up at the start of high school.<\/p>\n
The Victorian basketballer won gold representing her state at last month\u2019s Under 20s National Championships, but Molloy will now trade in her green and gold for navy blue and orange.<\/p>\n
The versatile utility will line up for the Calder Cannons in the inaugural TAC Cup Girls\u2019 competition which \u2013 aside from the standalone Bushrangers and Pioneers game \u2013 begins on March 18.<\/p>\n
Molloy, like many young girls, chased the dream of playing at the elite level and without a proper pathway through her chosen sport, elected to play basketball instead.<\/p>\n
\u201cI put the footy down when I was 12 or 13 and went to basketball,\u201d she said. \u201cWith the TAC Cup and AFLW, it sparked something in me to get a footy back in my hands and once it was I was like \u2018I miss this sport\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now Molloy has the chance she never got as a teenager, but it is a bittersweet choice to say goodbye to the sport that saw her play at national level.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s difficult but you can be good at two sports,\u201d she said. \u201cBut to be great at one sport, you have to drop one, even if you love it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her love for football won out, but even then she had to make the Cannons\u2019 squad, something she was not sure she could do given the amount of experienced talent that was running around competing for a list place.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could kick a drop punt but I wasn\u2019t sure how I fitted in\u2026 but the girls have welcomed me and I\u2019ve fitted in perfectly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Now Molloy, who considers herself a mid\/forward who can also play in defence, wants to follow in the footsteps of Cannons\u2019 mentor Alicia Eva.<\/p>\n
The Collingwood mid\/forward shone brightly last weekend, booting a goal after making up ground on her Fremantle opponents and helping the Magpies keep their slim grand final chances alive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe goal was grouse,\u201d Molloy said. \u201cWe use her for motivation for our games. \u201cShe always sends us messages wishing us luck.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Calder Cannons\u2019 Girls TAC Cup\u00a0squad goes through its paces in the pre-season<\/em><\/p>\n Calder Cannons\u2019 girls coach Jason Peak<\/strong> said it was a new experience for many of the players who had not had the opportunity to join the junior pathway with limited games last year with a few clubs taking part in the Girls Academy program.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very different, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Academy is a small thing compared to what it is now. \u201cIt\u2019s basically mimicking the boys program. \u201cI think with the girls, not many would have experienced the facilities before.\u201d<\/p>\n Peak named Molloy, Monique Conti<\/strong>, Madison Prespakis<\/strong>, Georgia Patrikios<\/strong> and Felicity Theodore<\/strong> as some of the Cannons to watch in the five-round season.<\/p>\n Calder will kick off its season on Sunday, March 19 against Gippsland Power at Frankston Oval before a double header with the boys\u2019 side at Rams Arena the following Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" CHLOE Molloy is relishing the opportunity to rediscover her love of football after having to give it up at the start of high school. The Victorian basketballer won gold representing her state at last month\u2019s Under 20s National Championships, but Molloy will now trade in her green and gold for navy blue and orange. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":229,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7949,8,16,137],"tags":[157,143,47,141,159,160,158,140,138,139],"class_list":["post-280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nab-league","category-news","category-tac-cup","category-womens","tag-aflw","tag-basketball","tag-calder-cannons","tag-chloe-molloy","tag-georgia-patrikios-and-felicity-theodore","tag-jason-peak","tag-madison-prespakis","tag-monique-conti","tag-tac-cup-girls","tag-tac-cup-girls-2017"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88270,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280\/revisions\/88270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}