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Of England Women’s historic class of 2007, two of them are now recipients of the RFL President’s Award. One is pioneering York Valkyrie director of rugby Lindsay Anfield, honoured five years ago for her work blazing a trail for female coaches in the sport. The other is Vicky Molyneux.

The last active player who was part of the side which beat France 16-2 in England’s first match 17 years ago, Molyneux called time on her international career following last November’s 60-0 win over Wales. That it was played at Headingley as a double-header with the men’s team is a sign of how much progress the women’s game has made since the encounter in Albi.

Much has changed for the Wigan Warriors loose forward in that time too. At 19, she could have scarcely believed it would be another 14 years before she represented England again, yet after taking a break from rugby league due to her burgeoning teaching career and then giving birth to her daughter, she returned to the field in 2019 and has not looked back.

Not only that, but the 35-year-old has found time to help revitalise the women’s and girls’ game in her hometown of Rochdale, all of which led to her accepting this year’s award from Sir Lindsay Hoyle at the annual RFL President’s Ball at Leeds’ Queens Hotel last Saturday.

“I look back to 2007 when I made my England debut, you wouldn’t contemplate this even being a possibility – particularly the way the game has accelerated,” Molyneux told Sky Sports. “The growth of the women’s game has been huge.

“The Women’s Super League launched, and I decided ‘I want to get back in here and see how it goes’, and it’s gone from one thing to another.

“I never thought even when I went for my first trial with Wigan in 2019, I’d be sat here talking about a President’s Award. It’s almost like a dream story and one I don’t think I would have even written for myself.

“I feel slightly undeserving but it’s really nice to have the recognition.”

The daughter of former Wigan men’s player Jimmy Molyneux, the 35-year-old quickly established herself in the cherry and white shirt on her return in the 2019 season, making 12 appearances and scoring three tries.

Returning in 2021 after the Covid-19 pandemic, Molyneux took over the Warriors’ vice-captaincy and earned a recall to the England team, along with collecting nearly every club award going at the end of the season. Injury limited her 2022 participation, but she was back at the forefront last year and became the first female player inducted into Wigan’s hall of fame.

Molyneux has achieved all this in the Betfred Women’s Super League and at international level, including being part of England’s Women’s Rugby League World Cup squad in 2022, while juggling her playing commitments with work and caring for her daughter, and hopes it shows others they can do the same.

“I owe a lot to the support around me, not just my club and England, but my family and they do help,” Molyneux said.

“It helps as well that my daughter absolutely loves it. Whenever I can’t get childcare, she comes to training and Wigan have been great with that.

“Anything is possible if you dream big, work hard, and have the right people around you, like me coming back in after having a child and a full-time job.

“Hopefully it’s something any other women and men as well who juggle obstacles in the way, you can overcome them and do really well, and make yourself and others proud.”

Added to those commitments is now coaching in the women’s and girls’ section at community club Mayfield, where Molyneux has helped open up options for female rugby players in Rochdale following a chance conversation with club chairman Neil Ramsden.

Although only planning to lead some taster sessions to gauge interest, the loose forward immediately fell in love with coaching and is now overseeing a team which includes players who have come over from other sports like netball and football.

“I never thought of coaching,” Molyneux, who played in Rochdale with the old Hillside Hawks girls team from the age of 11, said. “From that very first session I was completely hooked.

“Before you know it, we’ve got 50 girls signed on now and it’s been fantastic. I didn’t plan to do it, but just spending one session with those girls, I knew it would be impossible to walk away and we’re looking at getting another team going from U11 and U12.

“It’s just about creating opportunities because I was really fortunate when I started there was a girls’ team and until Mayfield there was literally nothing.

“We feel like we’re doing the town and community a real service now, and we’ve got some great athletes coming through.”

As far as rugby league is concerned though, Molyneux’s priority is on helping Wigan get back on level terms with the current Women’s Super League leading lights, York and Leeds Rhinos, as the Warriors seek to add to the sole Grand Final win they claimed in 2018 – particularly after being beaten in the play-off semi-finals for the past two seasons.

It has been something of a rebuilding process for the Warriors since that triumph, with a number of experienced players departing, but Molyneux is enthused by what she has seen from the next generation coming through Wigan’s academy and is using her experience to help them for however long she keeps playing.

“I would say I’m stronger and fitter now than I was back in 2007 when I made my debut,” Molyneux said. “I feel like with my older head, I’m a little bit better at taking care of myself and that disciplined approach really does help.

“If I can do that when I’m a mum and I’ve got a full-time job, for example, then these girls can do that as well.

“We’re trying to get the culture right here and it’s definitely starting to come across the squad with that common purpose.

“I feel like the role models in the group are setting that standard and the young girls are following, which is great, and it’s exciting.”

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