George Moloney (footballer, born 1909)

For other people named George Moloney (footballer, born 1909), see George Moloney (footballer, born 1909) (disambiguation).

George Moloney
Personal information
Full name	George Michael Moloney
Date of birth	(1909-08-07)7 August 1909
Date of death	5 January 1983(1983-01-05) (aged 73)
Height	174 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	73 kg (161 lb)
Position(s)	Forward
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1927–30, 1936–45	Claremont	190 (555)
1931–1935	Geelong	88 (303)
Total		278 (858)
Representative team honours
Years	Team	Games (Goals)
1929–1938	Western Australia	11
Coaching career
Years	Club	Games (W–L–D)
1943–45, 1948–51	Claremont	135 (45–89–1)
1958–1959	Western Australia
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1951.
Career highlights
Geelong premiership player 1931 Claremont premiership captain 1938, 1939, 1940 Brownlow Medal runner-up 1932 Sandover Medallist 1936 VFL leading goalkicker 1932 (109 goals) WANFL Leading goalkicker 1940 (113 goals)
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

George Michael "Specka" Moloney (7 August 1909 – 5 January 1983) was a highly regarded Australian rules footballer in both the West Australian National Football League (WANFL) and the (then) Victorian Football League (VFL).

Moloney had a formidable reputation as a centre, a goalsneak and a key forward. After four years at Claremont in the 1920s, Moloney drew strong attention as a goalsneak for Western Australia at the 1930 Adelaide Carnival. The following year, he moved to Victoria and joined the Geelong Football Club, where he played for five years, generally at full forward; he won a premiership with the club in 1931, and kicked 109 goals in 1932.

In 1936, Moloney returned to Claremont in the WANFL, he won the Sandover Medal in 1936 as the league's fairest and best player playing primarily as a centre. In 1938, he led Claremont to its first-ever premiership, and repeated the feat in the next two seasons.

All told, he played a total of 190 WA(N)FL games, some of them alongside brothers Robert (103 games 1930-36) and Syd (145 games 1934-41).

Arguably the greatest name in the history of the Claremont Football Club, and certainly one of the most uniquely versatile champions ever to have adorned the game, George "Specka" Moloney rounded off his association with the Tigers by coaching them, sadly without success, from 1948 to 1951.

In 1996, Moloney was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame and in 2004 he was inducted into the West Australian Football Hall of Fame where he has legend status.

References

• Ross, John (1999). The Australian Football Hall of Fame. Australia: HarperCollinsPublishers. p. 100. ISBN 0-7322-6426-X. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• AFL Hall of Fame