Brent Moloney (born 28 January 1984) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played for the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions is a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of the Melbourne-based 1883 foundation VFL c ...

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. It is based in Melbourne, Victoria, and plays its home g ...

and

Geelong Football Club The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition, and are the 20 ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling ...

(AFL).

Early life

Originating from

Warrnambool Warrnambool ( Maar: ''Peetoop'' or ''Wheringkernitch'' or ''Warrnambool'') is a city on the south-western coast of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Warrnambool had a population of 35,743. Situated on the Princes Highway, Warrnambool (A ...

, Victoria, Moloney supported the Demons as a child and his hero was

Allen Jakovich Allen John Jakovich () (born 21 March 1968) is a retired Australian rules football player. Jakovich was a prolific full forward and is notable for kicking 208 goals in his 54 Australian Football League matches, an average of 3.85 per game, for ...

, who played for Melbourne. Moloney played in the

TAC Cup The NAB League Boys (also referred to as simply the NAB League and formerly known as the TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition held in Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country Vict ...

for the

Geelong Falcons The Geelong Falcons is a youth Australian rules football representative club in the NAB League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition, Victoria, Australia. The club takes in talented junior players from the Geelong, Colac and Warrnambo ...

AFL career

Geelong Football Club

He was drafted in the 2003 pre-season draft by Geelong, and made his debut with

in round 14, 2003. In 2003 Moloney received an

AFL Rising Star The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. It was first presented in the 1993 season, and was won by Nathan Buc ...

nomination.

Melbourne Football Club

Moloney was traded to the

following the 2004 AFL season, after which he would play 21 games for Melbourne in 2005. Injury sidelined him for much of the next three seasons, seeing him play only playing 27 games. He injured his shoulder in Melbourne's Round 11 match against Collingwood in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, sidelining him for the rest of the season. Following a successful recovery from shoulder surgery, he was able to train injury-free for the whole of the 2009 pre-season, and he went on to play every game for the season finding his form back with many consistent performances. His return to his consistent best in 2009 was highlighted by his career-best statistics in every category except kicks – he had the most number of disposals, handballs, goals and marks of any season in his career to that point. In 2011 Brent received 19 Brownlow Medal votes, and his form saw him awarded Melbourne's best and fairest.

Brisbane Lions

In September 2012, Moloney became the AFL's first free agent, when he announced that he would leave the Melbourne Football Club. On 10 October 2012, he agreed to accept an offer from the

. On 11 August 2014, Moloney retired from football following an Achilles tendon injury.

Controversy

In April 2011, Moloney was evicted from a Melbourne nightclub for drunkenness the night after a match. As a consequence, he was stripped of the vice-captaincy. Moloney was reinstated to the vice captaincy on 9 June, following good form, counselling for his drinking problem and a vote by the entire playing list. In June 2013, after Melbourne coach

Mark Neeld Mark Neeld (born 13 July 1971) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Geelong and Richmond in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the 1990s. He was senior coach of the Melbourne Football Club from 2012 to 2013, when he ...

was sacked, Moloney took to

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

and posted a photo on his profile, saying "karma is a bitch". Moloney had been dropped sporadically during his final year at Melbourne, which was Neeld's first as head coach.

Statistics

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2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

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2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 32 , , 15 , , 5 , , 6 , , 130 , , 60 , , 190 , , 55 , , 16 , , 0.3 , , 0.4 , , 8.7 , , 4.0 , , 12.7 , , 3.7 , , 1.1 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 22 , , 21 , , 2 , , 8 , , 267 , , 95 , , 362 , , 72 , , 56 , , 0.1 , , 0.4 , , 12.7 , , 4.5 , , 17.2 , , 3.4 , , 2.7 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 22 , , 7 , , 1 , , 4 , , 72 , , 37 , , 109 , , 27 , , 12 , , 0.1 , , 0.6 , , 10.3 , , 5.3 , , 15.6 , , 3.9 , , 1.7 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 22 , , 10 , , 5 , , 3 , , 92 , , 74 , , 166 , , 24 , , 26 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 9.2 , , 7.4 , , 16.6 , , 2.4 , , 2.6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 22 , , 8 , , 2 , , 0 , , 94 , , 73 , , 167 , , 47 , , 38 , , 0.3 , , 0.0 , , 11.8 , , 9.1 , , 20.9 , , 5.9 , , 4.8 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 22 , , 21 , , 7 , , 3 , , 229 , , 283 , , 512 , , 98 , , 78 , , 0.3 , , 0.1 , , 10.9 , , 13.5 , , 24.4 , , 4.7 , , 3.7 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 22 , , 18 , , 2 , , 8 , , 192 , , 235 , , 427 , , 40 , , 86 , , 0.1 , , 0.4 , , 10.7 , , 13.1 , , 23.7 , , 2.2 , , 4.8 , -style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 22 , , 22 , , 9 , , 4 , , 282 , , 227 , , 509 , , 41 , , 124 , , 0.4 , , 0.2 , , 12.8 , , 10.3 , , 23.1 , , 1.9 , , 5.6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 22 , , 15 , , 3 , , 5 , , 136 , , 120 , , 256 , , 26 , , 52 , , 0.2 , , 0.3 , , 9.1 , , 8.0 , , 17.1 , , 1.7 , , 3.5 , -style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 3 , , 16 , , 8 , , 5 , , 160 , , 156 , , 316 , , 41 , , 84 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 10.0 , , 9.8 , , 19.8 , , 2.6 , , 5.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 3 , , 5 , , 1 , , 3 , , 43 , , 58 , , 101 , , 8 , , 28 , , 0.2 , , 0.6 , , 8.6 , , 11.6 , , 20.2 , , 1.6 , , 5.6 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 166 ! 46 ! 54 ! 1753 ! 1436 ! 3189 ! 500 ! 608 ! 0.3 ! 0.3 ! 10.6 ! 8.7 ! 19.2 ! 3.0 ! 3.7

Honours and achievements

Individual *

Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Trophy The Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Trophy is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player(s) adjudged the best and fairest at the Melbourne Football Club throughout the Victorian Football League/Australian Football League (VFL/A ...

: 2011 *

Australia international rules football team :''This article concerns the men's team; for information on the Australian women's team, see Australia women's international rules football team.'' The Australia international rules football team is Australia's senior representative team in Int ...

* AFL Rising Star nominee: 2004 (Round 10)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moloney, Brent 1984 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Melbourne Football Club players Geelong Football Club players Geelong Falcons players South Warrnambool Football Club players Brisbane Lions players Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Trophy winners Casey Demons players Tiwi Bombers Football Club players Australia international rules football team players Sandringham Football Club players Wilston Grange Football Club players