celebrity

Erin Molan has had a really tough month. She's also made history.

 

There’s been a lot of talk about Erin Molan lately, most of it asking: Where the heck is she?

In the past month, Molan has been the subject of abhorrent trolling because of an apparent feud with former player Andrew Johns who finds her “difficult to work with.” Allegedly.

During Channel Nine’s NRL Grand Final coverage – about 12 hours of broadcasting – Molan and Johns never had to so much as eyeball each other, with her taking on the pre-show work and interviewing the families of the winner’s after the match while the NRL great was in the commentary box.

Erin Molan’s call to action on The NRL Footy Show. Post continues below video. 

Video by Channel Nine

This naturally got tongues wagging. ‘It’s the feud. She’s being pushed out,’ they yelled, with no confirmation. To the contrary, actually, with a Nine spokesperson telling the Daily Telegraph it was “clearly another beat up”.

Perhaps after that things would have returned to normal, except it was not long after October 6’s final that viewers began to notice Molan was unusually absent from her normal roles.

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Again, people asked where she was. Conspiracy theories that she was being “sidelined” because of her alleged fraught relationship with Johns swirled.

But no, Molan confirmed on Sunday she had been unable to work after spending nine nights in the hospital with a badly broken arm.

Erin fell down the stairs while fetching a bottle for her 16-month-old daughter Eliza and her injury, in which her arm bone broke entirely off from her shoulder, was so bad she was required to spend a week and a half at Sydney’s Prince of Wales Hospital.

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So while she’s been dealing with a terribly painful injury, people have been debating whether she will keep her job or not. They’ve been wondering if the, again, alleged ‘feud’ was the end of her NRL career.

erin molan broken arm
Ouch. Image: Nine News.
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With all of this considered, you'd be forgiven for thinking Molan has had a pretty crappy month.

And maybe, in some ways, she has. But she's also made history.

Erin with daughter Eliza in hospital. Image: Nine News.

Molan's broken arm and extended hospital stay rendered her unable to attend radio's big night on Saturday: The Australian Commercial Radio Awards.

The award show crowned Molan and her Weekend Edition co-host Natalie Peters as the Best On Air Team - Metro AM. They are the first all-female team to ever win the award.

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An internet search of Molan's name is dominated by headlines and commentary about Johns, about whether or not they're fighting, and what that means for her future career, but there's so much to celebrate about this win.

Molan is the toughest woman in the NRL and an award-winning talk back radio host: Both extremely male dominated environments.

She has been relentlessly trolled, even threatened, and she still rolled herself out of bed as per usual and got on with it, until she was physically unable to do so.

And as if it was ever in doubt, she's clearly damn good at what she does.

Molan's work ethic is well-known and she called in to her (award winning) show on Sunday to tell Peters how she was tracking.

"It doesn’t sit well with me on any level, not being able to work, but it was a much needed rest, advised by doctors, and a fair stint in hospital as well," she said.

"It’s fairly painful. It’s one of the more painful breaks you can do, but my attitude is always that it could have been so much worse. I live another day so, hooray."

Feud or no feud, conspiracy theories or no conspiracy theories, broken arm or no broken arm, all Erin Molan wants to do is get on with her job. Can we please let her?