In a coup for New Zealand women’s basketball, Guy Molloy will be moving to New Zealand to further his role as Sky Sport Tall Ferns head coach and commitments to the Basketball New Zealand high performance programme.
Molloy first began coaching the national women’s team in 2018, ahead of the 2018 Commonwealth Games. He led the Tall Ferns to a bronze medal in his first tournament as head coach and enjoyed both gold medal success at the 2018 William Jones Cup in July and silver at the same event in 2019.
Molloy says he is delighted to be able to commit more time to the Tall Ferns and believes the foundations are in place for the team to achieve further international success.
“Basketball New Zealand has made it possible for me to base myself in New Zealand as we look to lift the programme together. It’s fantastic to be supported – the role needed to be based in New Zealand for us to begin work on lifting the women’s elite game.”
Molloy says the Tall Ferns have had a tough two years with COVID-19 disrupting preparation and it’s time to get back to work.
“We were making some great strides through to the end of 2019 and then COVID-19 struck and we’ve pretty much seen the programme spinning its wheels for two years.
“COVID meant the team was restricted from playing or training together for two years and, as a result, we fell just short of qualification at the FIBA Asia Cup. I thought we did admirably well at the most recent qualification tournament despite that, but we have higher expectations and our goal is qualifying,” says Molloy.
BBNZ Head of High Performance, Leonard King, says that the continuation of Molloy in this key national role brings added stability to the Tall Ferns side.
“Guy has made great strides with the Ferns over the past three years and did everything he could while faced with the massive obstacles presented during the pandemic. He brings a wealth of experience to the women’s national team and we are so excited to have more of his time and commitment in the country.
“Continuity is also very important and Guy now gets the chance to continue developing the potential of this team over the next few years – especially as women’s basketball heads into an exciting next phase of development,” says King.
Molloy says he’s excited by the ideas and possibilities that are being discussed in the New Zealand League and expects the women’s game will lift at the domestic level too, adding to the depth of the Tall Ferns longlist.
“I think we will see some big improvement in the women’s domestic competition. That is part of a bigger piece of work looking at a pathway for developing young players in their own backyard and bringing them to the Tall Ferns.
Molloy says he is now tasked with resetting for Olympic ambitions in the years to come and continue the development of recent newcomers to the international scene.
“At the Asia Cup our depth was good. There are a lot of young players making early forays into the Ferns that will kick along in the next few years.”
In moving permanently to New Zealand in April next year, Molloy will also move on from the Melbourne Boomers in the WNBL where he has spent the last nine seasons – in that time leading them to four consecutive finals series and a Grand Final appearance in 2017/18.
In the Boomers media release today, Molloy acknowledged the club.
“The Boomers has been a part of me and my family for the last nine years, and I’ve absolutely loved it. The club is in strong position now, and whoever comes in to take the reins has an amazing team and organisation to work with.”
