Long-serving Silver Ferns team manager celebrated
In a career spanning 18 years, manager Esther Molloy has been honoured by the Silver Ferns team and associated personnel after posting her 200th international match with the New Zealand team.
Fittingly, the milestone was achieved as the Silver Ferns delivered a 53-48 win in their crunch pool match against Jamaica at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, to enhance their cause ahead of the play-off rounds.
After the match, the Silver Ferns paid tribute to their popular manager’s unrivalled record by performing a haka in her honour.
An ever-present figure on the sidelines, Molloy joins equally long-serving physiotherapist Sharon Kearney, who reached the 200-match milestone with the national team during their Northern Tour late last year.
Starting the role in 2009, Molloy has been courtside for some of the Silver Ferns greatest triumphs while riding the highs and lows of international sport in all corners of the world.
An integral figure through her meticulous planning behind the scenes, Molloy has a deep understanding of what’s required to ensure all bases are covered in preparing the team for international duty, and over the years has worked with a vast array of players, coaches and high performance personnel.
In so doing, she has become the longest serving Silver Ferns team manager in history, in both matches and years. Molloy has worked with four different head coaches and one interim head coach during her time.
She has been involved with six captains and four acting captains while also being on hand for 50 players making their international debuts, which represents 26 percent of all New Zealand’s senior players to have played internationally.
Molloy was part of successful campaigns which included gold medal wins at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and 2019 Netball World Cup as well as trans-Tasman Constellation Cup series wins in 2012, 2021 and 2024. There were also silver and bronze medals at the 2014 and 2022 Commonwealth Games, respectively.
Molloy has built up a raft of experience managing the New Zealand team during four Netball World Cups, five Commonwealth Games and multiple home and away series during her 18-year tenure.
With a degree in sports management, she first worked in high performance at Yachting New Zealand, and ran a conference for yachting gurus during the 2003 America's Cup in Auckland.
Not long after the Silver Ferns won the 2003 Netball World Cup, Molloy took a job at Netball New Zealand as an administrator in high performance. Her role was looking after all the national squads, organising camps and tours - accommodation, meals, transport and uniforms - and handing over the arrangements to team managers.
In 2005 with the changing landscape of high performance netball and the Silver Ferns requirements, the role changed to just looking after the women in black. In 2008/2009 the role changed to include the on-tour manager and the Silver Ferns Team Manager role was created.
In achieving the rare distinction of 200 internationals, Molloy’s legacy is measured not only in matches and medals, but also in the care, professionalism and commitment she has brought to every Silver Ferns campaign. Her contribution has helped shape and drive a proactive and progressive era of New Zealand netball, leaving an enduring mark on the game and the people who have worn the black dress.