welcome to the wrap a weekly podcast covering women's sports news i'm reading the wrong bit
because this week we are joined by special co-host ellie cole welcome ellie queen of the jungle queen
of media and absolute queen of paralympics ellie what have we got around the ground this week
we have some exciting things this week because new zealand have won netball's constellation cup for
just the third time in history it's a bit heartbreaking for our diamonds however but 15
year old kiva bray has helped the sydney sixes to victory in the wbbl and the jelaroos are into
the pacific championship final for the key story we'll discuss requests by the rugby league players
association the rlpa for the nrl to pay more to players who play in thursday night nrlw matches
my name is bez i am in the hot seat for chloe who became a mother on tuesday i know this is
very exciting news we are recording on gadigal land so chloe is going to take a few weeks off
while she gets to know her little boy which is just all the feels he's gorgeous and it's very
very exciting a big congratulations to miss tfap herself on becoming a mother as well as her
partner riley they're going to be amazing mums oh it's just they are already and it's just
it's not hilarious but it's amazing seeing them going through this stage and these obviously you
know from first first hand that it's these few weeks are very testing so they are very trying
and it's quite a bit of a challenge but it's a lot of fun and it's a lot of fun and it's a lot of
incredible actually being an athlete and then becoming a mother because you realize how
important routines and consistency is but uh chloe's the type of person who definitely doesn't
like saying no i think that's probably going to be the most trying thing for her absolutely the
next few weeks is to um make sure that she's getting enough rest in and becoming an amazing
mum yeah adapt and overcome so other thing that's happening this week that's very exciting is it's
the final week of tfap awards voting we've had thousands of votes very exciting um so
you have until friday make sure you jump onto our website and vote for all the legends that have
been nominated i've seen a lot of excitement actually around the tfap awards across my social
media people going nuts for it um we're doing a pretty we're doing a kind of online version this
year but we're looking to make it into a bit of a bigger event next year there was something kind
of clashed with it this year like a child so next year will be even bigger and better but this year
it's been amazing let's take a look around the grounds the gillaroos have kept arch rival
new zealand scoreless in their 14-0 win over the kiwi ferns in week two of the pacific championships
despite having 60 of the ball in the opening 12 minutes the kiwi ferns were unable to convert all
that possession into points at the other end the gillaroos also had plenty of chances but were
consistently held up by the new zealand defense with four minutes remaining the first half taran
aiken earned a repeat set with a neat grubber this allowed the gillaroos to break the deadlock when
tiana penitenti got a shot a short ball from ali briganshaw and powered past the defense to score
it was an awesome
from tiana she killed it aiken missed at the conversion and the gillaroos took a 4-0 lead to
the break with 19 minutes to play gillaroos fullback to make up then stamped her class on
the match god she's good with a huge left foot step to bust the line and plant the ball down to
make it 10-0 with aiken's conversion going over four minutes later the gillaroos struck again
and a brilliant offload from millie elliott put up an interspace and just surger scored from the
ensuing play the win sees the gillaroos lock themselves a place in the pacific championship
final in two weeks time and get some revenge after the kiwis
to make up then what a name but if you look at that lineup that australia has going into that
pacific championship final a pretty red hot team it is a pretty red hot team and i've said it before
and i'll say it again but defense wins trophies i think it was the first time that the kiwi ferns
had been held scoreless in an international so pretty impressive absolutely well in in netball
i think they got a little bit of revenge on that because new zealand has clinched the constellation
cup with a 6143 victory beating the diamonds on home soil for the first time since 2019
australia went into the game needing a win to keep hopes of retaining the cup alive but the
defense could not find a way to stop goal shooter grace nowiki who was shooting at 94 we talk about
this all the time but it blows my mind about how accurate netball shooters are i know i think when
i played basketball i had a shooting accuracy of about three percent very solid i stand underneath
that netball and at least in basketball you've got a backboard i know so grace nowiki has really
one-upped me on that one she's all over you ellie
well let's let's let's put our focus back on the diamonds they needed they needed a really quick
start after after the opening two losses but the scores were locked 13 all at quarter time and the
aussies had a chance to score two goals up in the second half but they missed a shot with the silver
ferns answer answering to lead 28 26 at the main break so very close game the silver ferns then
came out firing in the third period racing to a five goal lead and did not relent as the errors
began to pile up for the aussies
with new zealand scoring 18 to australia's nine in that quarter to all but finish the game and
it's amazing to see just how quickly a game can change with a simple quarter oh for sure it was
smooth sailing for the ferns from there they took a commanding lead into the final quarter before
finishing off the job for the 18 goal victory and the constellation cup victory the victory
secured the cup for new zealand for only the third time in 14 series new zealand coach nolene tarua
told media that it's been a long time between drinks it's beautiful netball stunning netball
having a bit of passion heart backbone it's a cool story for us to win here is confidence
building and that scoreline is massive for us and we're heading in the right direction so great to
see nolene being re-signed i think it was a good decision um and then they've made a bit history
this week unfortunately for the diamonds and took the first trophy from the cabinet that's been full
for a long time so good on it's good to see the the ferns coming back because i think they've had
a bit of a rough patch there so but we got them in the pacific championships for the jewelry that's
exactly right into my flw news the bulldogs have entered ended st kilda's hopes of making finals
with a one-point thriller over the weekend the saints led throughout the first half and stretched
their lead to 14 points early in the third quarter but the bulldogs kicked the next three goals and
led by one point at the 10-minute mark of the final term which would remain at the final score
of the game two saints players are rewarded free kicks in the final 90 seconds but both failed to
fell 36 to 35 to the doggies jessica fitzgerald started for the western bulldogs celebrating her
50 game milestone with 26 disposals six clearances and a goal there's only one round left to final
so it's exciting times for aflw very exciting jess fitzgerald she was everywhere um so an
incredible uh job by the bulldogs and looking forward to that one now i played a little bit
of hockey last week just last week i picked up a hockey stick for the first time amazing and uh
look it's pretty much like
golf except you've got to run around bending over i call it running golf all the time much to probably
the disgust of our hockey fans and i do apologize it's me being ignorant but it is a bit like
running golf right i know and i couldn't help myself when i was is it called striking the ball
i'd say it's called striking the ball go with that every time i struck the ball i would use it
you're like rosie malone that's gold shout out to rosie all right let's get into hockey because in
hockey defending champions the brisbane blaze have continued their great start to the hockey season
with a 4-2 win over the canberra trill
the blaze and the chill they've got mad names i know it's two worlds gliding the blaze came out
well all guns blazing scoring first courtesy of savannah fitzpatrick but the trill i can't say
it's stuck in your mouth struck back immediately to leave the scores all locked at one all at the
first break the chill then struck again early in the second with giselle ansley notching up a double
blaze pegged one back to bring it to all but costly penalties in the third and final quarter
would prove the difference between the two sides blaze coach nikki taylor told media that this is
just the beginning for the blaze she said there was still lots to like again but there are still
some areas where we can get better we still need to work on our consistency but there have been
good quarters and some that are not so good i think you know that's pretty important for every
team is consistency particularly at a high level i think that's the thing that always makes a
difference between the best and the you're gonna play the best and the worst and that's the thing that
all four quarters yeah all four quarters in wbbl it's back very exciting and the sydney sixes have
beaten the melbourne melbourne melbourne the melbourne renegades in the opening round of the
wbl bbl with just six balls to spare courtesy of their 15 year old debutant wild nine yeah wild
the renegades set the six as a target of 178 with the help of georgia wareham who smashed
four sixes in her 61 from 31 balls to lay the foundation for melbourne but debutant
bray overcame a nervy start with the ball to claim the big breakthrough wicket of powerful
west indies batter deandra dotten for her maiden wbbl wicket it was pretty crazy it was great scenes
afterwards they all got around her so yeah 15 she's only moment only turned 15 last month too
it's a huge moment and you've got to think you know at school what were you doing in your night
school actually you were probably achieving a lot i was on the swim team yeah wrong question
to wrong person i definitely wasn't well you know i'm curious
tough to say no one knows i definitely wasn't doing a lot of study you blanked that time out
eh 15 i'm starting playing rugby actually in the open comp but yeah that's about it i definitely
wasn't doing anything at a high level but keever is the sixes went into bat and elise perry did
what she does lay the groundwork with a blistering 81 from 38 balls the sixes were cruising in
pursuit of the renegades eight for 178 total but fell into a little bit of a hole losing five for
26 after pez got dismissed but then as we said keever
ray came in she combined with sarah bryce to help the sixes home with six balls to spare ray told
channel seven and i love this she said i wasn't expecting for it to go that well it literally is
a dream come true perry gave me my cap before the game and i was crying a little bit maybe more than
a little bit you well you got to think about how long elise perry has been around you know she's
probably been playing since before keever was even born definitely so to be able to um receive a
receive a cap from a legend it's amazing i remember receiving my first cap and it was a literal swim
cap so it was an actual cap yeah um it's a huge moment particularly in cricket you know you see um
cricket players receiving their caps and you know the look of pride that comes over their faces yeah
it's a massive moment and i think like you said playing not only receiving it from elise perry but
then going on and playing alongside her it's just a pinchy moment isn't it like you're just like wow
this is the goat and i'm playing with her i know and keever bray is going to be the most popular
person at school for sure i wonder if she's actually today i'd be walking straight into
school gates with my cricket bat and cap on hundred all right let's go into the tillies i
wake up very early for this one they've begun their next footballing window with a 1-1 draw
to switzerland in zurich it's the first time that the two sides have met and both sides
traded chances in the first half in what was a tight and very tense affair ford had the first
real side on goal in the 14th minute she wasn't able to wrap her boot around the ball to get a
clean strike on target and in the final few minutes of the first half mackenzie arnold was forced into
a fantastic save after the swiss played in in behind the tilly's defense but it was australia
who would capitalize moments later a fantastic bending ball from ellie carpenter found the run
on ford who only who only had the goalkeeper to beat ford was prevented from having a shot after
being brought down by the swiss keeper she got her good she got her good i mean if you get a foul
like make sure she's not getting a shot on goal so play on yeah well you know no choice really
exactly however she made no mistake in
the penalty that she won giving the matildas the lead in the break switzerland came out determined
to equalize after the break in front of their home fans turning up the pressure on the australia's
defense they found their breakthrough in the 58th minute the ball fell to the feet of geraldine
rutila after ricocheting around australia's penalty area and the score was leveled at 1-1
where it did remain for the rest of the match now i think all eyes were on this match because
interim head coach tom samani um you know was standing up for the game and she was able to
get the ball off the matildas and he said that he was a little bit disappointed with the quality
of the goal that we gave away he said i thought tonight was very messy defensively from us we
certainly need to step up based on tonight's performance but tonight was the first time
with the team for a while and the game in germ the germany game i think will be an entirely
different game and we just see how they bounce back so that game is very early tomorrow morning
four four o'clock yeah ouch um another early alarm time but i mean obviously germany i think
just beat england over the uh last week or something so they're in good form so i'm
interested to see how we go against that yeah it's going to be a really very high standard game
um and with tom samani stepping in you know there's there's a lot of change from the matildas
that are coming i liked ellie carpenter during the week kind of putting herself out there and
saying you know we're ranked currently 15th in the world and that's not good enough and we need
to be better absolutely and i'm wondering as well how the team had transitioned after the pressure
from the matildas to the women's world cup and i think that's going to be a big part of that
because obviously they put all of their eggs in one basket for the women's world cup and it
it's hard to do that consistently year after year so i think there'll be a lot of change
coming from the matildas um to my guests anyway exciting times speaking of exciting wmba i know
i've banged on about this for the last couple of weeks but that final series was next level yes i
can't believe it it did happen a week ago but i need to we need to speak about it let's revisit
it game five um sold out stadium in brooklyn and one of the things that came out of this post um
the new york liberties win was that only two years ago they were playing in a basically a
college gym that held 2 000 people in two years time then not they're playing in front of 20 000
people in brooklyn what's been the biggest change in and bringing those crowds in i think a part of
that was well they got new ownership and that new ownership said let's put you in a bigger stadium
this is silly and look what happened they put him in a bigger stadium and the people came like and
obviously they bought well so they recruited bernice stewart so bernice was always there but
they bought some big names so they invested in
a in a in some big names they put him in a bigger stadium and look what happens winning obviously
helps too yes so new york liberty they came away with a 67 to 62 overtime win so the second
overtime game out of the five match uh final series was 6.3 seconds left in regulation the
liberty had the ball and they were down 60 to 58 brianna stewart was fouled by alana smith which
the links were aussie alana smith the links challenged that call and looking at it in
isolation for me it wasn't a foul but
i guess depending on how they called the game they felt they'd called the game for the whole
match maybe it was a foul but anyway the referees found a foul there stewart hit both free throws to
tie the game at 60 all and the game went to overtime it was a liberty who got the job done
and won their first wnba title in franchise history and the game was watched was the sorry
the game was the most viewed wnba finals game in 25 years with viewership peaking at 3.3 million
during the match and it's worth noting that at the same time the final game was the most viewed
final of the acls baseball was on and there was an nfl game on at the same time so we're talking
about a pretty decent size viewership um crowd there in competition on a sunday night so pretty
cool and huge numbers as well i'm really looking forward to seeing next year with the wnba
how the players are put forward commercially i saw i saw a t-fat post a couple of days ago about
the most um commercial commercially viable i suppose female athletes simone biles being the
first and i think caitlin caitlin clark yeah i think caitlin clark is going to be the first to
second third or something yeah third yep um i think we're going to be seeing a lot more players
who are stepping into that light which is really exciting it's so exciting let's take a look at the
key story the rugby league players association or rlpa has asked the nrl for additional payments
for nrlw players who feature in thursday evening matches claiming their players deserve compensation
for taking time off their day jobs it comes as the nrlw is officially classed as a part-time
competition so this is the interesting thing and i can kind of speak to this from a rugby union
well the super rugby women's is also a part-time competition and when we play on fridays and and
all thursdays we don't have thursday matches but the girls take the day off you know they all have
jobs the large majority of them have have jobs and there's not many of them that go to work on
that day at the very least they're working till kind of noon and then rushing to get to the game
so most of them take that day off so it's a pertinent discussion to be had about is there
some kind of compensation for these part-time players having to take an extra day off work
to play so rlpa rlpa general manager jamie bureau says thursday fixtures remain a long-term concern
for nrlw players if they are not compensated for needing to take more time off work from their
primary income none of the three thursday fixtures in the 2024 season involve teams in different
states playing each other so they didn't have to jump on a plane um jamie bureau went on to say
players have no issue with playing thursday night games in theory as it provides consistency for the
fans with rugby league on that night and it gives the nrlw clubs and players a prime time slot to
case their talent yeah there's certainly an interesting um discussion to be had i think
a lot of us are looking at this from you know they're taking the day off work so of course
they should be compensated but as well as all of the travel and commitment that a player needs to
have to the nrlw club it's also time away from home time away from family you know it's it requires
compensation but you know it's this isn't an interesting case technically the request for
extra payment is outside the existing collective collective bargaining agreement the rlpa agreed
last year but this is why these bargaining agreements need to be ever evolving they need
to be revisited regularly and it comes as the league will expand from 10 to 12 teams in 2025
with canterbury a new addition to the league and the warriors returning to the competition for the
first time since 2020 this is a quote but before going ahead with an increase in them or even
scheduling those fixtures we believe that compensation needs to be secured and guaranteed
another request from the rlpa is for the
nrl to consider putting on more double headers with nrl fixtures and requested that no games
kick off before midday on saturday or sunday to allow junior players to attend mr bira says
nrlw players are comfortable having double headers or clashes with nrl fixtures because
the alternative was a shorter schedule where each team only played 10 of the 11 teams
he said that a double header or clash is better than playing no game at all they believe the
more games they can play the better
and that's a pretty solid summation there from jamie bira i think the girls do want to play more
games like they want to have a long consistent season that is worthwhile and they want to play
every team like i think what we're seeing at the aflw right now it's still problematic in that they
all 18 teams don't play each other once so it's not really a fair competition
but there has to be as we said some kind of compensation for the fact that these
unlike the nrl men's players it's their full-time job this is not their full-time job so if they're
taking time off for a while they're going to have to play more games and they're going to have to
off work it needs to be accounted for in their salaries for sure and i think the double header
question is quite interesting how do you feel i i don't mind a double header i think it's it's
it does a job in regards to people being able to go and watch all their rugby league at the
same place i don't want to clash because nrw does have its own fans so i think i think the
key thing is they need to play the whole 11 games whole 11 teams absolutely make it work
in the window that it's that it's designated to and whether that's hopefully made up of a
combination of double headers and clashes so be it yeah i think i think actually double
headers are really positive for the game you know you have people that watch rugby league
regardless of whether it's men's or women's who just love the game yeah um for myself going to
sporting events really annoying to be honest and so if i was at one game and i didn't need to go
anywhere for the next game i would of course stay on um and vice versa you know if i was
going for an nrlw game i'd probably go a little bit earlier to see the boys play too yeah so i
positive. But I think the discussion around this, I think it really depends on how you're seeing
this. If you're seeing this as the NRLW having their own fans, then yeah, of course we have our
own fans and they're going to stick around for the men's matches. But I think there's a lot of
people out there who are saying, oh, we need to put double headers on to try and get more people
that are going to the men's matches to then go to the women's, which kind of puts a bit of a
negative. Exactly. It's how you frame the argument. We can stand on our own two feet, you know,
I don't have two feet and I can still stand. But yeah, that's exactly right. It's how you frame
the argument in regards to double headers being beneficial for both parties. I think that's,
you know, ultimately what it is. Both the men's and women's team enjoy playing double headers. I
know, again, speaking from experience, the Waratahs blokes love it when we play double headers.
It's going to be mutually beneficial regardless of how you look at it.
And yeah, I think in regards to compensation, you know, they're saying a move is unlikely to
sit well with the NRL, which has made it conscious.
Effort to maximize NRLW's exposure with broadcast slots on the game's free-to-air
broadcaster with a nine network with early kickoff time. So we talk about those kickoff
times. We haven't quite touched on that, but they played some pretty early games this year. And it's
quite important to understand that, you know, young fans are out playing their own sport at
that time of the day. That's the reason that a lot of those kickoffs are moved to later in the
afternoon is so that, you know, you can go and play your junior sport and then go watch your
heroes play their sport. So I think the pre-NRLW.
The pre-lunchtime features need to be scrapped just quite NRL. Get rid of that.
Yeah. And I think these conversations definitely need to be had, especially these things,
especially when something's building so quickly, needs to be revisited quite regularly. It's not
as though, you know, the NRL, I would hope, has put the games on early. They just weren't
thinking, I don't think. But absolutely, that needs to be scrapped.
Looking for clear air. Let's take a look at what to watch.
Yes. What's coming up this week? We have the Matildas on ground again. The Tillies take on
their second international in just three days when they face Germany, in Germany, actually,
this Tuesday morning. The match kicks off at 4.10am Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time,
and you can watch it on Paramount+.
The NBL is back for another year. I love all these comps coming back. And all the action
begins this Wednesday when Geelong United take on the Townsville Fire with tip-off at 7pm ADT.
You can watch the Wednesday night games live on ESPN via your Foxtel Fetch and Sky Sports in
With netball, despite all the pressure, it's going to be a lot of fun. It's going to be a lot of fun.
Already winning the Constellation Cup.
Surely we've got to win one.
Why do we have to keep mentioning that?
New Zealand will be looking for a clean sweep when they face Australia in the final game
of the four-game series this Wednesday. The match begins at 7pm ADT, and you can catch it live on
And in cricket, the Sydney Sixers face off against the Melbourne Stars this Friday night at North
Sydney Oval. If you haven't been to North Sydney Oval for a game and you've got nothing on this
Friday night, go. It's a great place to watch cricket. The game kicks off at 7.15pm ADT.
And you can watch it live and free on the Network 7.
And I'm looking forward to this one because the A-League Women's is also back this weekend,
starting with Western United facing the Wellington Phoenix on Friday night.
The game kicks off at 7pm ADT, and you can watch the whole Women's A-Leagues on Paramount Plus and
10 Play. I feel like I'm giving a plug to Paramount Plus. I work for Channel 9, guys.
I should have given it.
I love Channel 9.
I should have given her all the Channel 9 stories. The last round of this year's AFLW season, as we
said, has arrived, and it's heating up for the final spot. Sixth place Richmond hosts, second
place Hawks with the first bounce at 3.05pm on Sunday. You can catch it live on the Network 7
and Fox Booty. And that is the wrap. Thank you so much for joining me, Ellie Cole. It was
an absolute pleasure.
For very good reasons. Thanks for having us, Bez. And Chloe, I hope you're happy with this.
I'm so nervous. Bye.