OPINION: Let’s give Erin Molan a chance

Twitter is not the nicest medium at the best of times. And when Twitter comments get turned into “news” stories, the headlines tend to be especially heinous.

Molan with The Footy Show cast. *(Credit: Getty Images)*

Rarely do you see breathy online headlines along the lines of “Everyone agrees! Great work!” So reports of audiences aggressively hating on TV presenter Erin Molan in her gig as the new host of The Footy Show are disappointing but wholly unsurprising.

But before we run away with the “What a disaster!” narrative, let’s all just take a beat. In taking the seat of 23-year veteran Paul “Fatty” Vautin, Molan was always going to be the underdog. Throw in a challenging new timeslot and reduced budget and the mum-to-be is basically up against it from the starter’s whistle.

For sure, there’s a whiff of misogyny in the air, too. Seeming to blame Molan for on-air technical difficulties during the March 22 broadcast is just unfair. So while audiences adjust to seeing a woman calling the shots— and not a bloke dressed up like one—perhaps we should give her some more time in the game.

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Jennie Noonan

Jennie Noonan began her career at WHO Magazine in 1999 as an editorial assistant, soon after gaining her Bachelor of Media and Communications degree from Macquarie University. During her almost two decades at WHO, she worked her way up to Executive Editor and, along the way, interviewed Hollywood stars like Matt Damon and Heath Ledger, profiled stacks of ordinary Australians with extraordinary stories and covered events from the Academy Awards to the Australian Air Guitar championships. As a freelancer, she has dabbled in travel writing for QANTAS Magazine, covered celebrity news and pop culture for E! News and The New Daily and worked on one-off collector publications about Taylor Swift, Legally Blonde, The Hunger Games, Olivia Newton-John, Harrison Ford, Barbra Streisand and more. She still regularly contributes to her first love, WHO magazine, sticking around long enough to live through both "Bennifer" eras. When not glued to reality TV, the mum-of-three can be found on the beach.