Sydney Swans AFLW co-captain Chloe Molloy and midfielder Tanya Kennedy spoke to the media today about the side’s 4-0 start to the season, Molloy’s goal of the year nomination and how the midfield group fought back against Fremantle’s strong start on Sunday.

Kennedy on the start to the season

“Yeah, feeling good. The excitement around the place is brilliant, it’s a great start to the season and everyone’s happy.  There’s no real pinpoint reason, everyone’s just following the process and taking it week by week and just putting in the effort, and it’s shown. Just trying to play Swans footy as best as possible.”

Kennedy on the midfield battle

“We went out and we knew they were going to be strong. Their clearance game, they’re a very contested team as well so we knew it was going to be a tough battle in there. So we just went in, took it quarter by quarter. We didn’t start as well as we wanted to but we fought back and got it on our side so it was good.”

Kennedy on feeling comfortable at AFLW level

“Yeah, exactly. The first year was a bit, oh, I’m not really sure what’s going on, second year too, just finding your feet at this level but now I’m feeling a bit comfortable but still trying to get better and better and obviously learning the game, the structure and the process, so it’s getting better.”

Kennedy on being a leader in the midfield 

“It’s hard at times because obviously I’m new to the game but I’ve been around football for a long time and the young talent coming in now, they’re just brilliant. They’re easily led, and they’re looking up and they know what they’re doing. The game, the standard coming through is just really good. We don’t really need to do much really, they’re already ready.”

Molloy on the Swans’ best start in their AFLW history

“I mean, for me, that start, like, you know, be where your feet are, it’s incredible. Just to put it like that, this program, just creating more history within the four walls. But you’ve got to be happy, we’ve got to celebrate. We work too hard, I guess, to not get to these moments and enjoy them and celebrate them. But I also, that window can’t be dragged out too long.We’ve still got a whole season to go, and we’ve got some really tough competitors coming up. So, yeah, you stop and absolutely admire what we’ve been able to do but, like, there’s zero contentment. You know, four quarters of football, I don’t think we’ve strung together just yet so, we reflect upon that and this team wants to get to the pointy end of the season. So, we’ve set ourselves up well for a really good campaign but the desire and the hunger to still be better, I guess, is brewing every week.”

Molloy on whether she expected some of her teammates to take a big step this year

“Individually, there’s been some absolute brilliance and when you’ve been able to have players have a full pre-season, they’re inevitably going to get to round one and be, I guess, more ready than they ever have been. But what this programme put in place in the pre-season and the commitment that the girls had to one another to want to be better than we were last year and the year prior, I think is what stood out to me, is a commitment to kind of keep rocking up, even when we didn’t need to. But there was that want to be better for the person next to you. So, look, to say I’m shocked at what some of the players are being able to do is a lie. Like, I’ve watched them in pre-season. I watch the way we go about things, I watch how sharp we are, how meticulous we are in our preparation. That game day is just kind of an outcome of all of that. So, yeah, I think individuals really put their head down over pre-season but I would say as an entire programme, we’ve really polished some areas that needed polishing from last season and I’m super proud of what we’ve been able to achieve thus far.”

Molloy on the side’s slow start and fightback

“I mean, no, we don’t want to start slow and it’s something that we are addressing. We’ve spoken about it but I think the next step is we really need to address what are the tangibles? What does it look like to start fast? What does it feel like? And we need to implement that, I guess, into the training week, you know, there’s three types of way to train and we need to train to win during the week to that. So come game day, that slow start is, you know, it doesn’t happen. But then on the flip side, you do have to look and go how mature of a group for us to be able to fight back and give the team a head start for us to be able to, I guess, play bloods footy and just be gritty in the way we kind of crawl back. And I feel like last season, all those arm wrestles went the other way but this year, again, back on the prep that we’ve done throughout the whole preseason, they are going our way now. But we don’t want to be starting slow, that’s not something that is within our brand of football and, yeah, we will address it.”

Molloy on her goal of the year nomination

“The one in the pocket, I saw my opponent slowing down, so I was like, oh, worst case scenario, I knock her, and let’s kind of see where the ball is. I guess for the past 12 months I’ve had a ball in hand, so it was just, I don’t know, some weird juju connection with me and the football, and it worked out for me.  And to be fair, Lulu Puller, who was in the goal square, had every right to throw a boot at that and I asked her in recovery, I said, why did you not do that? She goes, well, I was watching it, and it was about to go in, so she’s like, I didn’t touch it. So I actually probably need to thank her for letting the ball go through. But, yeah, I guess weird things happen in moments like at Henson and in Indigenous Round, and I feel like there’s just the footy karma around me and just made that ball go through.”

Molloy on her role

“My role is my role on game day it’s going to look different and it’s going to fluctuate. I guess you mentioned it, I don’t buy into the outside noise very much. The most I care about and all I care about is the four walls and what’s happening within the four walls. I’m the beneficiary at the moment of some beautiful play out the field that’s been able to come in. My role is whatever’s given to me that week, it’s going to look different each week. This team’s so versatile that I guess anyone who’s been given a role can step up to that. But, yeah, I will just do anything for the team, whatever it looks like.”