Sydney coach Scott Gowans has defended hiding the extent of Chloe Molloy’s knee damage from the remainder of the AFLW staff.
Molloy was a late withdrawal from their St Kilda conflict with what was initially described by the membership as “knee soreness” earlier than membership officers confirmed she had ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament.
The 25-year-old learnt her season was over simply hours earlier than the Saints match, having hurting her proper knee throughout coaching earlier within the week.
Molloy hid the knowledge from her teammates till after their eventual 16-point loss.
“Chloe herself got here up and mentioned she simply did not need to inform the gamers, which I used to be actually comfy with, and [they] did not want the distraction,” Gowans mentioned on Tuesday.
“It was such a fast course of from discovering it out after which having it confirmed.
“I used to be somewhat bit inquisitive about a number of the commentary round it, to be trustworthy, however I believe we adopted the method that we wanted to comply with and simply made the late change.”
Gowans admitted the shock and devastation round Molloy’s damage was but to sink in, given the three-time All-Australian was capable of proceed coaching after injuring her knee.
“That is typical Chloe. She went off for perhaps two or three minutes and got here again on the bottom,” he mentioned.
“We’re doing a full-ground ball motion drill, went into the pocket. Chloe’s picked the ball up cleanly, twisted round and kicked the ball by the targets on her proper foot.
“I believed, ‘She’s proper,’ did not assume something of it, after which went to mattress totally anticipating she was enjoying.
“Even on the lodge, [she was] strolling round. She was sometimes annoying Chloe, simply annoying.
“She was high-quality. It was simply no indicators of something sinister.
“After which from there, we discovered the subsequent morning, the doc confirmed it with me and simply mentioned, ‘I hate to let you know this.'”
Gowans added Molloy would proceed to have a match-day position within the coaches’ field or on the bench.
The Swans shall be hoping to get again to their successful methods once they host the Tigers in Coffs Harbour on Saturday.
AAP
