Written by Amelia Barnes
Margaret Molina (née Gollan) OAM is one of the most accomplished people in Australian netball, having contributed to the sport for 60 years as an elite player, coach, team manager, and currently as a state Board member.
Recognising her incredible career to date, Molina was recently inducted into the Netball Australia Hall of Fame as an athlete member and awarded a Netball Victoria Life Membership.
Molina’s netball career started in 1963 as a shooter for the Melbourne Blues playing in the Victorian state league.
Among her Blues teammates were her two sisters – goal shooter Jean Gollan, and defender Stella Northey (who was inducted into the Netball Australia Hall of Fame at the same time as Molina) – as well as Norma Plummer, who went on to become Molina’s colleague and lifelong friend.
Plummer remembers many occasions starting a game before the “Gollan sisters” and friends arrived fashionably late in the one car.
“In those days you could start the game with three… We'd be five or six minutes into the game, and they'd come screaming around the corner, running down, and laughing that they were late,” recalled Plummer. “I might add, by the way, even with just three of us on the court, we were still winning when they turned up!”
As sisters, Molina and Gollan had an innate ability to wordlessly communicate in the goal circle, instil confidence in one another, and “say it as it was.”
The Blues were a highly successful club, securing 12 state league premierships during Molina’s time in the team, ending in 1985.
Molina was first selected in the Victorian open state team in 1966, followed by the national team in 1967 as Diamond #56.
Winning the 1971 World Cup in Jamaica was particularly memorable for Molina, as it was shared with her sister, Northey, and followed the swift introduction of a rule that changed netball forever. Players had previously been required to defend from four feet away – now, it was three.
“We were [previously] shooting from our shoulders… so we had to really work hard on stepping back to get away from them while still keeping our shot in some sort of rhythm, which was very difficult,” Molina said.
Molina recalls studying and adapting the technique of English player Judy Heath who pioneered the overhead shooting style netball is famous for today. “We had to come back and adapt our shots to go above our heads… It changed everything,” she said.
Plummer joined Molina in the Diamonds from 1975. She remembers Molina’s ability to shoot from anywhere in the circle, and effortlessly transition between playing goal attack for the Blues, and goal shooter for the Diamonds.
“It’s something you don’t see that much these days,” said Plummer. “With Marg, you were always happy that you could turn your back and walk back for the centre pass because you knew that ball was going to go through.”
Over her 12-year international career, Molina earned 14 caps, and won gold at both the 1971 and 1975 Netball World Cups.
“It didn’t matter when you walked out on that court in the green and gold, you got those goosebumps. I still often get emotional when I hear our national anthem and I see the players out on court,” said Molina. “It still hits me… It’s something very special.”
Following Molina’s retirement as a player, she undertook a range of coaching roles including assistant coach of the Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) and the Victorian state team.
Molina later became a team manager, taking up roles at the VIS, Australian 21/U team, and Melbourne Kestrels between 1991 and 2003.
She was the Diamonds’ team manager from 2003 to 2011, bookended by tours with coaches Jill McIntosh and Lisa Alexander.
Molina’s most significant partnership as Diamonds team manager was with coach Plummer, who led the team over the 2006 and 2010 Commonwealth Games, and 2007 and 2011 World Cups.
“She was always on the ball – the team never wanted for anything. She was always on the front foot about all the policies, procedures, and what needed to happen at a world championship or test matches… She’s absolutely excellent,” said Plummer of Molina.
“She'd always be a manager I'd pick up, even tomorrow if I was coaching in Australia… She’s one of the best mates you could ever have, and teammates you could ever play with.”
Molina overcame significant personal challenges as the Diamonds team manager. In 2004 her time in the role was interrupted, after being caught in the horrific 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami while holidaying in Thailand.
Molina was seriously injured in the disaster and temporarily lost all movement in her right arm.
Looking back at this incredibly difficult period, Molina said what drove her recovery was the support of Plummer and the Diamonds players who wanted her back as their manager.
“I said to her… The position is yours, you just get better,” said Plummer.
Molina recently revealed to Plummer the profound impact the team’s encouragement had on her recovery that inspired her return to work 12 months later. “That gave me something to work towards,” said Molina. “I believe netball was one of the reasons that I got back to being fully mentally functional, even if not physically.”
Life Membership is Netball Victoria’s highest award, and there are few people more deserving than Molina. Her work in netball continues today as an elected director of the Netball Victoria Board, a position she’s held since 2018. “It’s another way I thought I could give back to the sport that I love,” she said.
This award comes just months after Molina was inducted into the Netball Australia Hall of Fame at the 2022 Australian Netball Awards. To share the experience with sister Northey, over 50 years after winning the 1971 Netball World Cup together, was especially “unbelievable.”
“It was a huge honour to be put into the Australian Hall of Fame as an athlete,” Molina said. “It was a thrilling moment for me.”
