Welcome to The Wrap, a weekly podcast covering women's sports news.
Bez, what have we got around the grounds this week?
Brie Walker has once again shown she's queen of the monobob.
The Perth Lynx have beaten the Townsville Fire in a WNBL overtime thriller.
And North London is red because Arsenal have smashed the Spurs in the North London Derby.
For the key story, we'll discuss a new report showing which sporting competitions were the most searched online.
in 2024 and where women's sports ranks on the list.
My name is Chloe Dalton. I'm joined every week on the show by my co-host Bez.
Good morning, friend. How are you?
How was your weekend?
It was a nice weekend. Relatively quiet. Not sleeping a lot with Fred at the moment.
So that's a dream. But otherwise, great.
That was your choice. You knew that the baby would ruin your sleeping habits.
Yeah, mine was good. We had a trial out at Campbelltown on the weekend. It was a bit hot for rugby.
Seems it's February is not rugby time, but here we are.
February is not rugby time. Yes, we are.
It was the last 32 degrees in Campbelltown, so it was pretty warm.
When does the season start for people who are going to watch?
This is for Super W, the Waratahs, New South Wales Waratahs women we're talking to.
Opening round Friday the 28th of Feb.
Against the Druar.
Yes. That's the neighbour's dog. Sorry, Brian.
The dog is super excited about Super Rugby.
Hey, if you haven't already checked out, Phoebe Litchfield, the Aussie cricketer, was our first
athlete episode of the year. That came out Thursday last week. So if you haven't had a
listen, get it in your ears. She's currently over in India for the WPL. She played in the
Ashes series recently. She's a young gun. She's a cracker.
It was a super enjoyable, candid chat. I liked it.
She's a great kid. I liked her a lot.
I know we talked about it last week, but we really want to hear your feedback about what
you like, what you don't like, what you want to hear more of. The link will be in the show
notes. So please get that done. We'd love to hear from you guys. We are recording on
Gadigal land. Let's take a look around the ground.
In Monobob, Australian Bree Walker has claimed her second gold medal in a week at the Monobob
World Cup, but this time she didn't have to share her gold.
We don't like sharing.
Well, we teach the young to share.
But not the adults.
Not sharing in sport.
I'm not about participation awards and not about sharing in sport.
Putting it out there.
In her first run, Walker powered down the 1994 Olympic track in 54.01 seconds,
nine hundredths of a second in the lead.
Canadian Cynthia Appiah had snatched first place when it was Walker's turn to go last
on the final run.
On Walker handled the pressure to clock the fourth fastest second run in fifty four point
five six seconds and pip the Canadian by point one five seconds in a combined time of one
forty eight fifty one.
The victory sees Walker seal second place in the overall season standings for the second
year in a row and stands her in good stead going into the season ending world champs
in the US next month.
She told the press afterwards, it feels so great to secure the second place crystal globe
A big goal was to win a crystal globe.
So really happy with my consistency throughout the year, which has paid off.
She is in fine form and we know less than a year to go till the Winter Olympics in
twenty twenty six.
These Olympics and big events just roll around so quickly these days, don't they?
We haven't discussed actually travelling for those Winter Olympics.
We really need to get our calendar in shape earlier.
We need to get that sorted.
In football news, the Western Sydney Wanderers have beaten the Newcastle Jets 4-1 in their
Valentine's Day clash.
It's safe to say that love was in the air for Bronte True and Ena Harari.
But it was actually the Jets who struck first, a goal coming courtesy of Tash Pryor after
just six minutes.
Just after the half an hour mark, the Wanderers restored parity with a solid solo run from
Bronte True, entering the break with a 2-1 lead.
Do we reckon she's related to Arissa?
It was a tight start to the second half, but eventually Newcastle found themselves up against
it after conceding a penalty.
Amy Harrison stepped up for and successfully converted substitute Holly Caspers, then put
the icing on the red and black cake for Wanderers.
Final score for one loss these Newcastle's winless streak extended to 10 games.
That's not we don't love to say that.
Meanwhile, on the complete other end of the spectrum, an 89th minute winner against Sydney
FC has seen Melbourne City extend their unbeaten run to 17 games.
They're going, all right, the sky blue from City, Melbourne.
The other sky blues.
Remarkably, the league leaders were down 1-0 to last place Sydney at halftime,
but came out firing in the second half and wasted no time,
with Mariana Speckmeyer scoring just 25 seconds after halftime.
With the game inching towards its conclusion,
City were in search of a hero and found one in super sub Briley Henry,
who fired the winning goal into the bottom left corner
to break Sydney FC hearts at the death.
In some Invictus Games news, it's been a blockbuster week for Team Australia
at the Invictus Games, with the team coming away with 36 medals,
24 of which were won by women.
For those wondering, the Invictus Games is an international multi-sport event
first held in 2014 for wounded, injured and sick military service personnel,
both serving and veterans.
Whilst there were many highlights from the game,
some notable ones were Australian Army Captain Olivia Marley-Dyer,
who won the Aussies' first medal of the Games in Nordic cross-country skiing.
For most Australian competitors, it was the first time doing the sport,
not less competing against countries from across the globe.
Olivia beat the competition, finishing the 1,500-metre course,
in four minutes and three seconds, racing across Whistler Olympic Park
Marley-Dyer told media,
I've only done three or four days on snow,
so I was lucky I managed to stay on my feet.
I came into these Games really not expecting to medal at all,
so this is an added bonus.
That's so impressive.
And I think that's part of the Invictus Games.
It's more a celebration of coming together and competing
rather than, you know, necessarily gathering the best
Nordic cross-country skiers in the world.
It's really about getting those...
return service people together and celebrating their achievements
and, I guess, their connecting...
connections is what I'm trying to say.
Staying on the slopes, Aussie Katie Chapman took out gold
in the ISB5 snowboard with a 22.15-second run,
while teammate Cindy Chawna finished in third.
Meanwhile, on the skeleton track,
Cindy Chawna finished with another medal,
this time silver in the ISK1 event with bronze
to fellow Aussie Tricia Reynolds.
And success for Australia continued in the pool
with Jolene Loveless,
winning three golds and a silver,
and Karen Glasky won two golds.
Well done to everyone.
In basketball news, the Perth Lynx have defeated the Townsville Fire
87-86 in an overtime thriller
to notch up the second spot on the WNBL ladder
at a home court advantage for the semi-final series.
The Lynx were playing catch-up for most of the game,
trailing the Fire by 11 points at quarter-time
and again by five points at the main break.
The Lynx were playing catch-up for most of the game,
but the Lynx had pulled that back to a three-point game
by three-quarter time and then put themselves
in a winning position with a 12-0 fourth-quarter run.
Ooh, but the Fire hit back with a near-coffee shot
just before the buzzer to send it to overtime.
Townsville then had all the momentum,
leading 86-80 with 45 seconds to go,
but that's where the Lynx turned up the pressure.
A steal from Steph Gorman set up Adelie Mailey
to bring it back to a two-point game.
Then Letitia Amahir grabbed,
the steal off a driving Lauren Cox
before she took off to lead the break
and then found Alex Cibitoni,
who was waiting out on the wing.
She knocked down a clutch three as the buzzer sounded.
How good is that?
Perth coach Ryan Petrick said the result
could have easily gone either way.
It's a flip of a coin.
With all due respect, it's tough, really tough,
and there's not much between these two teams.
As we found out for the third straight year,
we get to keep playing each other for a reason.
You don't get to play each other
if you're seventh and eighth.
You only get to play each other again and again
if you're top four.
Quality rises to the top, huh?
In some rugby league news,
the Indigenous All-Stars have beaten the Maori Ferns
20-18 with a penalty goal after the siren,
the only thing that separated the two sides.
The Indigenous All-Stars dominated
the opening stages of the match
with two converted tries in the first 15 minutes,
getting them out to a 12-0 lead.
But the Maori side were keen to show
what they had up their sleeve,
crashing over the trial line
twice to level the scores.
Kiri Dibb was then forced from the field
in the 23rd minute with an injury,
which brought on substitute Leilani Montgomery.
It was the Ferns who took the lead
heading to the break with 18-12 in front at Oranges.
But the game was turned on its head
when Indigenous All-Stars bench weapon
Ella Costa scored three minutes after taking the field.
Leilani Montgomery leveled the scores
a short time later with a penalty kick,
and she was gifted a penalty in front of goal,
which she calmly slotted
to secure back-to-back victories
for the Indigenous All-Stars against the Mary Ferns.
19-year-old Ella Costa told NRL.com
about her chat with the team
when they were down at halftime.
I love the 19-year-old kid having a little chat.
Yeah, I respect that.
You'd be nervous.
She's a good kid, Ella.
She spent her season at the Waratahs
as a 16-year-old before she...
Went to the dark side.
Yeah, thank you for saying that.
I just told the girls we've had this theme all week,
And to us, it means that this sport
or this time is bigger than us.
The people that come before,
or us and the people that are here.
Yeah, sure, Ella.
And yeah, excellent game of Rugby League.
In a bit more football news,
in the Women's Super League,
North London is red
because Arsenal have thrashed rivals Tottenham Hotspur
5-0 in the Women's Super League derby.
It wasn't the ideal start for the Spurs
with Arsenal's first goal coming courtesy
of an own goal by Tottenham defender
and Aussie Claire Hunt in the 15th minute.
Before Mariona Caldenti doubled the lead
20 minutes later.
Freda Martins' 51st-minute strike
then deflected in off Hunt
before Alessia Russo's effort seven minutes later
and a stunning late hit from Emily Fox completed.
I actually can't believe it was 5-0.
Can you finish that sentence?
Because I love that word.
Completed the route.
Completed the route.
I, like, they dominated...
Like, 5-0 is a route.
Absolutely dominated.
Yeah, they're going all right, Arsenal.
Gosh, the Gunners were relentless throughout
exploiting a poor defensive play from Tottenham
and consolidating their third-place position
in the Women's Super League table.
Hey, shout-out to Charlotte from TFAP who was over there.
I don't know if you guys saw the Instagram reel
There was, what, 58,000 people in the stadium bothered
about women's football?
They're pretty bothered.
Pretty bothered, I reckon.
They're pretty bothered.
Shout-out, Charlotte.
If you haven't, go check it out.
If you haven't seen it.
And Chelsea scored an injury-time winner to beat Everton 2-1.
For the first time in history, a WSL Championship Tour event
landed in the United Arab Emirates, and it was defending
world champ Katie Simmers who took the title in a tight contest
against Aussie Molly Picklam, which came down to the final wave.
Notching an 8.67 on her first wave, the final,
Simmers took command straight away, but Picklam answered
with an eight-point right of her own on the second right
The battle was eventually decided on the last two lefts.
Simmers ripped her way to a 7.43, while Picklam just got edged out
with a 7.7, but in the end, Simmers took the win by less
than half a point with the final wave of the decider.
After clinching victory, Simmers told the press,
all I can think of really is just how thankful I am, honestly.
I'm thankful for surfing, for just being able to ride waves.
It's the funnest thing ever.
I really enjoy it, and I'm thankful for Molly because she makes
We both do that to each other, so that's always fun.
Love that respect.
They're really starting to develop a solid rivalry,
these two youngsters.
It's cool that they're so young and there's a really strong rivalry there.
Yeah, it's great.
And just on that wave pool, if you didn't catch any of it,
it's really – we spoke about it a little bit.
We touched on it last week.
It's because it's a consistent wave.
They surf two lefts or two rights and two lefts,
so one will be on their forehand and one will be on their backhand,
depending if they're a natural or goofy.
And it's really interesting because they kind of get a chance to answer back,
so they do a left and a right, and then the other surfer surfs,
and then they do another left and a right,
so they kind of know what they need.
It's so – I didn't get to see this event,
but it's so different even as a spectator because you're not –
there's not a huge amount of time just sitting waiting for a good set
Yeah, it's pretty cool.
I had an interview with Phoebe Litchfield, Aussie cricketer,
and she is iconic.
Like, she's just a young kid who's talented,
and she's got real personality about her.
I don't really think of her as a career option because you don't really do that
I wanted to work at, like, the sports store, you know?
Like, I just love sports.
Make sure you check it out.
Let's take a look at the key story.
A new report by Red Torch has revealed that four of the top seven most searched
sports competitions online in 2024 were women's specific sports leagues.
The people want to know more.
I feel like I want to read that again.
Four out of the seven.
I want to reply that to all – oh, my goodness.
The amount of men in the comment sections about that Sportico top 100,
the fact that there were no women in the highest paid list,
the amount of men in there that come in and try and explain basic economics,
I'm going to reply with the stats from this research.
What about just basic history of the long-term investment in men's sports
versus women's sports?
Caitlin Clark, Simone Biles.
I could name so many athletes who dominated the headlines across the globe last year.
What, Travis Kelsey was famous because of Taylor Swift.
I'll stop my rant.
The report titled Sport on Social used Google Trends data to capture a clear reflection
of the searches people make every day in relation to sport and compared them over the last four years.
So, results, the Women's National Basketball Association –
We'll just call it the WNBA because apparently I can't say that word that starts with A.
Topped the list achieving a 322% increase in online search growth, the greatest of any major sports property.
It was closely followed by the Women's Super League, the Freien Bundesliga and the National Women's Soccer League.
So, all football competitions.
Why are these leagues leading the charge, you ask?
The report says the WNBA and WSL exemplify how athlete influence,
and media expansion fuel growth.
Star players like Kaitlyn Clark have played a pivotal role in elevating engagement levels,
demonstrating how individual athletes can drive widespread interest and visibility for their leagues.
Interestingly, what made the WNBA so popular as well was the hype around the WNBA draft held in April.
Fans followed the athlete's transition to college to the professional stage.
The clear example of this is how Kaitlyn Clark gained 1.3 million new followers
between the first two years of her career.
There was also some new competition.
So, additionally, nine of the top 25 properties on Red Torch's rankings were new competitions.
It was highlighted by the surge in interest for sports employing both digital-first approaches
and innovative formats include paddle and the ultimate tennis showdown.
The report says these...
Oh, there's that word again.
Is that how you say that?
Is it paddle or padel?
I want to say paddle.
Well, why is it spelled like that?
Why is it spelled like that?
In Monoval, it's called paddle.
Is it the same as pickleball?
I think it's slightly different.
Is it tennis's claim on pickleball?
I'm completely making this up, but that's how I think.
The report says these innovative formats are harnessing digital-first approaches to amplify visibility
while legacy sports face challenges in maintaining relevance in an increasingly dynamic sports landscape.
Red Torch Head of Communications and Women's Sport Lead, Jess Roos, says these trends
emphasize the power of consistent coverage, financial investment, and the breaking down
of historical barriers to women's sport.
Fred's joining in.
Through 2025 and beyond, we can expect the continued rise in global awareness, fan engagement,
and overall brand health for women's sports properties, inspiring new generations of fans
and athletes alike.
So, just in case you're wondering,
Number one, WNBA.
Number two, the Paddle or Padel World Championship, depending on where you're located.
Number three, the Ultimate Tennis Showdown.
Four, the Barclays Women's Super League.
Five, Freyja Bundesliga.
Six, the World Endurance Championship.
Seven, the National Women's Soccer League.
Eight, the National Collegiate Athletics Association, so the NCAA.
Nine, SAIL-GP, Formula One Cars on the Ocean.
And 10, the Diamond League.
So, so many of those, like as we said, six out of 10 female-based competitions.
That's huge, isn't it?
And it's just that it's amplifying that visibility.
I think that is so important.
We put more content out there, better content out there.
People want to digest it.
I know I went on a bit of a rant earlier, and we are heavily biased towards women's
sport because of what we do and who we are.
The Luka trade to the Lakers was big news.
Jalen Hurts and the Eagles, to be honest, I thought he was quite interesting because
he has an all-women management team.
Yeah, I love that.
Like, what are the big men's sport names and news stories that have dominated across the
I don't watch men's sport.
That's what he says.
No one watches men's sport.
That's the T-shirt.
Let's take a look at what to watch.
In hockey, after a dominant start to the year on home soil, the Hockey Roos kick off
their European Pro League campaign against Argentina on Wednesday the 20th.
The match starts at 9.30pm AEDT, and you can watch all the action live and free on 7+.
The Tillys are back.
She Believes Cup.
For the first time in history, the Matildas will compete in the US Invitational Soccer
Tournament, the She Believes Cup.
The tournament kicks off this Friday morning when the Tillys take on Japan at 9am.
You can watch all the action on Paramount+.
In Rugby Sevens, the Aussie Sevens women will be searching for back-to-back victories when
they compete in the Vancouver Sevens this weekend.
The tournament kicks off Saturday morning when Australia face off against Spain at 10.50am
You can catch the whole tournament on StanSport.
It's WNBL's finals time.
The Bendigo Spirit and Sydney Flames will face off in the first of three semifinal games
The 23rd at 3.30pm.
Meanwhile, the Perth Lynx will host the Townsville Fire in Game 1 of the other final series on
Saturday the 22nd of Feb at 5pm Western Standard Time.
You can watch the semifinals live and free across the Nine Network.
And even better, if you're in those cities, get yourself some tickets and go and watch
Australia's whitewater rafting team will this weekend compete in the Pacific Cup in
The Riveroos are currently fourth in the world and you can follow along with their journey
starting on Saturday.
Saturday via their socials at the Riveroos.
Good luck to the Riveroos.
See you next week.