Welcome to The Wrap.
Banging my microphone.
A weekly podcast covering women's sports news.
You'd think I'd know that by now.
Bez, what have we got around the ground this week?
The Aussie women have won silver at the Hong Kong Sevens.
Arsenal and Chelsea are through to the Champions League semifinals.
And the New South Wales Waratahs are super W minor premiers.
For the key story, we'll discuss Deloitte's new projections,
which show global women's sports revenue in 2025 is expected to reach
a casual $3.6 billion.
Billion with a B.
How do I get my hands on that?
I mean, you invest quite heavily, I'd say, with your work with CFAP.
Hopefully not too much when you're packing people's merch.
My name's Chloe Dalton.
I'm joined every week on the show by my co-host, Bez.
Last Thursday, we dropped an episode with Aussie Diamonds netballer,
It was really cool.
I chatted to Jo when I was down in Melbourne.
Tough to say when that was.
Just the other day.
Go check it out if you haven't listened to it.
And give us a review.
If you love what we do here, please give us some stars.
Give us a review.
Share it with your mates.
It's the way we get the word out there and helps us to keep fighting the fight.
We are recording on Gadigal land.
Let's take a look.
Let's take a look around the grounds.
Oh, the Hong Kong Sevens.
It was a great game.
I'll let you go before I throw my comments in.
Rip into a little review.
The Aussie Rugby Sevens team have gone down 26 to 19 to New Zealand in the final minutes
of the Hong Kong Sevens gold medal match.
It's pretty crazy.
I think our oldest, the oldest player is 24.
That's where I was going with it.
So it's like, it's really cool to see this next generation of young kids,
kind of come out and start to have a crack, particularly at like Hong Kong Sevens is
kind of the home of Sevens, right?
That's the iconic Sevens tournament.
Hong Kong, if you haven't been, it's an absolute scene.
It's three days of party.
And because of that, I think it's, it's earned the reputation as the stop to win.
We've seen a couple of battles developing over time between the Aussies and New Zealand,
like individually, like we kind of see the Maddie Levi v Michaela break.
We've seen George.
Miller v Tegan Levi as well.
That's been a bit of a head to head.
Georgia Miller for New Zealand was just, she's so evasive.
She just wiggles her hips around and off she goes.
Apparently I've heard rumors about her before rugby career.
Highland dancing.
I think that makes sense.
I don't really know how that works, but I feel like that makes sense about the hips.
And obviously Tegan Miller didn't play the last two days out injured.
Lever, Levi even.
So that was a big loss.
They were missing her.
But Maddie Levi was amazing.
There was this, we need to post it.
I think we're going to post it today.
She genuinely, Maddie Levi came inside for a switch, genuinely hurdled over two New Zealand
And there's this amazing photo where they're all lying on the ground watching her run off
Unfortunately, the Kiwis got up and the Aussies scored one try after the siren, which was
a little bit too little too late.
But one to note, Maddie Levi became.
The most prolific try scorer in Australian rugby history with 196 tries to her name,
14 alone, just this weekend gone.
The record sees her surpassed teammate, Charlotte Kaslick's Australian record of 186.
She told media, Charlotte's been my idol and she's been my mentor throughout all the years.
For her to be able to help me get to the level I'm able to play at is pretty awesome.
But records don't really matter to me.
I'm just about getting the win.
No man or woman in rugby.
League or sevens has scored as many tries in Australian colours than her, who's on track
to break the all time record of 264 held by New Zealand's Michaela Brake.
I'll be interested.
I actually don't know how old Michaela is.
I thought she because she's been around for a while these days.
I might just Google that as we discuss.
Yeah, she's been she's obviously Michaela Brake, knee-blind, so she's been around for a long
time. I think I think the thing with Maddie is she obviously started playing so young and
she is like, you know.
14 tries in this tournament alone.
She is a genuine cheat code.
Like get the ball to her.
We're watching that final last night.
You get the footy to her with a metre separation between her and the defender.
Yeah. 29th December 1995.
So she'll turn 30 December this year.
Yeah, she's getting close.
All right, Maddie, keep going.
She's got heaps of time.
In some March Madness news.
I've been loving this again.
Sadly, the LSU got beat this morning.
By UCLA, who were just too good.
But we're going to talk about Paige Beckers because she is killing it.
So she helped the Connecticut Huskies beat the Oklahoma Sooners 82-59 in this week's March
Madness to make a surge towards the Elite Eight, aka the top eight.
So just a little refresh on what is March Madness, Chloe.
It's a single elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently
featuring 68 women's college basketball teams from the Division One level of collegiate, the
National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Athletic Association, or the NCAA.
We'll just go with the acronym, hey?
To determine the national champion.
In the Sweet 16 matchup, Paige Beckers scored a career-high 40 points, rescuing UConn from
its first-half doldrums and single-handedly turning a tight game against Oklahoma into
Beckers had 29 points after halftime for the Huskies, who trailed 36-32 at the break.
She just went ballistic.
She's the likely number one overall pick in the WNBA draft.
So she was interviewed after the game, and she said, they're like, so are you nominating
for the WNBA draft?
And she was like, oh, yeah, I thought I'd already done that.
Like, she was pretty casual about it.
I think she's pretty keen not to make it all about her and her potential number one status.
And I think I probably have said this on the wrap a couple of times before, but I will
be so curious to see.
Like, she obviously hasn't got the hype of Kaitlyn Clark, but we've kind of talked about
She's a very well-rounded player.
And if she hadn't done her ACL a couple of years ago.
It would have been really interesting to see if her and Kaitlyn had nominated the same
year, because I think she's played that extra year because of that injury.
I think that, like you said, she's probably better all round.
She's not draining threes from the logo like Kaitlyn was.
Which gets a lot of the hype.
She's absolutely electrifying, and she matched her career high in that match with six three
I've just said she's not shooting from the logo, but, you know, she's draining six threes.
The last two during a personal 10-0 run in the fourth quarter.
Let's get the ball to her.
She checked out of the game with 3.06 left, and UConn ahead 80-51, and I believe they're
playing this morning, so they get their way into the Final Four.
In a bit of football news, coming back from 2-0 down seemed to be the common theme in
the Women's Champions League quarterfinals this week, with both Arsenal and Chelsea doing
so in their respective games to advance to the semifinals.
For those who are unaware, in the UEFA Champions League, aggregate scoring is used during the
knockout rounds to determine which teams advance.
So they played two legs, one home, one away, which I think is a nice way to do it.
And the fact that it's not, that it's aggregate scoring, rather than like, I don't know.
Well, I guess, was Women's State of Origin aggregate when it was two games?
How did they do that?
Remember, they tallied up the thing, the final scores, had to win by a certain amount.
I thought I was going to say I liked it better, but I don't actually know if I do.
No, I think, well, when we talk about jam-packed calendars with football, which we spoke about,
we spoke about last week, at the end of the day, home and away is, like you said, the
best team should progress.
But there is a big, when you talk about UEFA Champions League, there's travel involved
and things like that.
Obviously, there's two English teams, but you can be traveling to Germany or, you know,
Such countries, Zed.
European countries.
So, yeah, I think you ultimately get the best team.
Arsenal conjured a three-goal frenzy early in the second half.
They overturned a 2-0 first-leg deficit and win their quarterfinal against Real Madrid.
It was a goalless first half on both sides, but Arsenal didn't waste a moment in the second half.
Within a minute of the restart, Mariano Caldente fed Chloe Kelly the ball,
whose cross was swept in by Alessia Russo.
Three minutes later, Kelly was the creator again,
as her delivery was met by a towering head-up from Mariano.
Then, with just less than an hour gone, Arsenal put themselves in front as Russo,
hooked in the ball from a Steph Kelly head-up.
We don't see her doing headers as much as a nice left-footer.
Not as much as Blue Whales.
Meanwhile, on the other side of London, Chelsea overturned a 2-0 deficit
to narrowly edge past rivals Manchester City.
Were you feeling a bit nervous?
Chelsea might have momentarily thought their luck was out when defender Lucy Bronze
struck the post with a 14-minute shot, but Sandy Baltimore drove the loose ball
And the comeback was on.
The hosts were relentless, with Natalie Bjorn producing a perfectly placed header
to level the aggregate score before Lauren Jaynes set up Mayra Ramirez
to give them victory.
Let's discuss Sam Kerr.
Speaking of Chelsea, so the Football Australia board met with Sam Kerr
to discuss the situation.
The recent events.
It's quite ambiguous, isn't it?
Just the situation.
Never saw anything in media about it.
During the meeting, Kerr acknowledged her actions were not her best moment.
Chloe, talk me through how many early Sunday morning events have not been your best moment.
Actually, you're pretty good.
I'm not going to lie.
You keep yourself together, mostly.
I definitely have my moments.
But I think we've all had not our best moments.
At that time of the morning.
But she recognised the broader impact it had.
So not her best moment, recognised that it had a broader impact,
including implications in relation to the Code of Conduct,
which applies to all players, coach, staff and officials.
I want to express my sincere regret for how events unfolded.
It was an incredibly difficult period for me, my family, my club, my teammates,
and especially for the fans whose support means so much to us.
I recognise that leadership means being mindful of our actions both on and off the pitch.
I'm proud of the Matildas, the role I have played as a member of that team and everything we stand for.
And I'm committed to learning from this experience.
Moving forward, I'm focused on doing my part to ensure we grow even stronger together.
And I look forward to having the opportunity of rejoining the team once I'm fit and ready.
Speaking of fit and ready.
Well, speaking of almost fit and ready.
She's on the plane.
She's going to get here for the March-April FIFA Women's International Women's Window.
International Women's Window.
Which is from 31st of March to the 8th of April.
She's been granted leave by Chelsea to continue her rehab under the supervision of the comeback Matildas performance support team.
So she'll be here, obviously, going through her paces, getting checked up.
The statement's probably needed because of the huge media reaction to what was effectively a storm and a teacup, a keytup.
But I say that, I say that with reservations because at the end of the day,
whilst it was a storm and a teacup in regards to, in my opinion, how it played out,
the reality is when you listen to that whole footage and understand the fear that Sam and her partner, Christy,
were experiencing that night after the cab driver locked the cab,
locked the doors of the cab and started driving away from their destination.
You know, that's the part that kept getting missed out.
And as women in that environment, in that moment, you know,
she expressed a sincere regret for how the events unfolded.
You know, I'd love the cabbie to apologise to and the police officers for filming them and releasing it.
And that's the other thing.
The thing that kills me is that police officer took months to release that.
It's like he got talked into it by someone, said, oh, she's famous, you can get money out of this.
The timing was off, wasn't it?
The timing was off.
So, look, I think the statement had to be made to answer your question.
I don't, it doesn't make me feel any better about it.
I felt fine once I'd watched that.
I felt fine once I'd watched that full video and understood the circumstances.
Yeah, I think probably just echoing your sentiment, I think the,
it is much more complex than people who've just seen the footage sitting in the cop shop have seen, right?
That's kind of been what's been splayed across different things.
But I think it's looking at the length of that to see and acknowledge all of the components that led to that event.
And then I think the second thing that I've been quite interested reading our comment sections on the Sam Kerr post,
men's players have come out after domestic violence allegations, arrests,
like just the standard that I respect that we're holding these athletes to a standard,
but the standard that we hold these women's players to is often very different to what we come to accept from the men.
New South Wales Waratahs have ended the final round of the Super Rugby women's season with a bang-ish.
We weren't as good as we would have liked to have been,
but we wrapped up the minor premiership with a 36 to 23 win over the ACT Brumbies at GIO Stadium in Canberra.
The Brumbies got the first points of the game via penalty,
but it took only 10 minutes for the visitors to reply with Annabelle Cody crossing the line.
It was a pick and drive.
There was a lot going on up that end of the field.
And I may have given Cody's try on my little score app to Bridie O'Gorman.
Did you get it wrong?
Annabelle was very quick to message me the following day and say,
did you give my try to,
Cause I'm off the nudie.
you are off the nudie.
So it's recorded Cody.
So the game went back and forth.
It was a really good game of rugby.
We were up 1916 at halftime,
but we really turned it on the second half.
She scored for the Waratahs.
She scored two tries,
One from close in,
And I think my favorite part of the Licky's game was she absolutely folded
Ash Fernandez from the Brumbies.
Drove her back five,
It was excellent.
we took it out 36,
We're into the semifinals this weekend.
We'll be facing the Western force.
And then on Sunday,
yesterday we're recording the force.
they went down to the reds pretty heavily.
That final score was the reds will be playing the drew in their semifinal.
See you there Sunday.
In a bit more football news.
Melbourne victory have given a boost to their a league minor premiership
defeating Adelaide United to one in the final moments of the match.
The victory had the best of the chances in the first half,
but nothing could separate the two sides of the break.
It took until the 59th minute for the victory to find their breakthrough via
Nicoletta Flannery's stunning effort from the edge of the penalty area,
but curled into the back of the net.
Adelaide were gifted a way back into the match in the 86th minute after Emily
the ball inside the box.
I don't know what's going on this morning.
Dylan Holmes stepped up and coolly converted the spot kick.
Adelaide would have thought they'd gotten out of jail,
it was Flannery who popped up in the first minute of stoppage time to snatch
victory for the home side.
The wind sees the victory move just two points behind the undefeated Melbourne
If they're undefeated,
victory going all right to be that close to city,
Draws mean you're undefeated as well.
More sport learnings.
So we're two weeks into the women's six nations and with three more to go,
England and France have emerged as the two teams to beat.
So for those that are wondering the women's six nations championship is an
international rugby competition contested between England,
That began in 1996.
saw France claim a clinical 38 to 15 win over Scotland,
while England piled on an impressive 67 to 12 win against Wales.
Although Wales got humbled and England are a very good rugby team.
Genuinely counting down days until that final at Twickenham.
It's going to be huge.
not counting down at any at all.
There'll be 80,000 plus people there.
But speaking of crowd numbers,
saw a record breaking 21,000 plus crowd for a standalone women's sporting event in Wales.
You need to understand too that Wales is like the population's like 22,000 people.
I think that's what it is.
I actually think the whole country can fit in that stadium.
but it was a massive crowd.
It was awesome to see them playing that standalone.
And despite the loss,
I think that aspect of the game outstanding.
the Australian women's cricket team have held off a fast,
fast finishing New Zealand side to seal a T20 series sweep with an eight run win in game three.
In the first innings,
Australian opener,
Georgia Vol rode her luck on her way to 75 runs from 57 deliveries after being dropped on six occasions by the Kiwis.
I didn't watch that game.
They dropped her six times.
there needs to be an investigation.
Someone's had a bet.
Someone has legit had a bet on Georgia Vol being the top scorer.
we can't be too mean to the Kiwis because we,
we did stuff that up last week,
she can't release her hatred.
They just beat us last night in the sevens.
I was there watching on the TV.
And you sent me a video of your son supporting them and I'm not okay with it.
I know it wasn't your choice,
but it's happening and we need to get on top of these things.
Beth Mooney looked,
equally ominous with 75 not out while Phoebe Litchfield,
Elise Perry and Talia McGrath combined to give Australia a late boost to four
In the second innings,
the White Ferns were quickly caught on the back foot as Megan shoot two for
42 removed both openers bait and plimmer for single figures.
The feet saw shoot become the first woman to take 150 international week.
It's in the format.
the game looked all but over a 99 run.
Stand between Amelia Kerr and Maddie Green threatened to snatch victory for the Kiwis
as they only required 38 from the final three overs.
But it was a piece of fielding brilliance from George Wareham and a triple wicket 19th
over from Annabelle Sutherland that helped the Aussies secure a nervy victory.
In some kangaroos news,
the Australian and kangaroos have won gold at the 3x3 Asia Cup,
defending even their 2024 title in the process.
we're talking basketball here.
We are talking 3x3 basketball.
I go to the kangaroos.
They started the tournament to zip beating Indonesia 21,
three and the Philippines 21,
eight to make the quarterfinals.
They then won against Thailand and China in the semis on their way to the final
where Japan awaited them led by Marina Whittle,
Australia's play down in the post would be too much for Japan to handle as they
would win their third Asian cup title in a row.
in total claimed her second Asian cup,
most valuable player award after an all round scoring display.
Let's take a look at the key story.
We're going to chat a bit of global women's sports revenue because chat dollars.
we are UK based finance company.
Deloitte has predicted that global revenues in women's elite sports will reach
at least 2.35 billion us dollars.
We're talking 3.6 billion AUD.
They estimate the combination of match day commercial and broadcast revenue will drive
the increase world right.
I'm really sorry.
Across top level women's sport up 25% from last year.
So that's when I was reading this.
that is the stat that stood out to me.
It's that that stood out to me.
I was tough to say that.
Your phone needs to be on silent.
No vibrating at the table.
Sorry about that.
I've just got it open because I'm so excited about the final four and I've got to go.
I've got to make sure I know when it's on.
Are you gone playing now?
but I'm going to put it at it in in case it's not in what to watch.
That's why I've got it open ready.
You've been ready the whole episode for that.
You are always ready.
what we're meant to be talking about 25%.
That's a quarter.
And I think that that,
that like we talk about dollars and it's hard to,
sometimes contextualize what that dollar means,
that dollar amount means.
when you talk about an increase of 25%,
that gives it some,
some base around,
if we think 25% is big revenues in women's elite sports are predicted to
have risen by 240% in four years.
With Deloitte valuing the market at 692 million us back in 2022,
it's not that long ago.
It's outstanding.
My only reservation with that is that it just shows we wouldn't just not
marketing it enough.
And if we talk commercial revenue,
which is obviously a big part of that growth.
So that includes sponsorships,
and preseason to an income that's the past 1 billion us dollars for the
first time in 2024,
making up 55% of women's sports revenues,
most revenue generating sports remain unchanged with basketball making up
44% and football 35%.
They're projected to generate the biggest revenues in 2025,
which is unsurprising,
Jennifer Haskell knowledge and insights lead at the Deloitte sports business
group believes more needs to be done following major events.
We believe we agree with you,
She said major events are increasing visibility and participation across many
sports and geographies,
action needs to be taken after these big moments to drive domestic success
for leagues and clubs.
It is no longer enough to just host an event organized,
must be bold and think of new ways to engage fans and drive participation.
Even after the champion is crowned deliberate action,
put it on a t-shirt.
I love Jennifer Haskell.
She's really good.
Let's take a look at what to watch in water polo.
This year's Australian water polo league is coming to a close with final starting
this Friday at midday.
Before culminating in the grand final in on even Sunday,
you can watch the whole final series on YouTube by the water polo Oz page,
or even get down to Sydney to watch it.
Singapore sevens kicked off this weekend as the final event of the seven seasons.
The Aussie women will be back in action from Friday.
You watch them live on Stan sport.
And the Tilly's are also back there on home soil this week when they take on South Korea
the match kicks off at 8 PM.
You can watch it live on Paramount plus.
And super netball is back.
Everything's back.
Everything's back.
What a better way to start then with a grand final rematch that laid Thunderbirds host,
the Melbourne victims this Saturday at 5 PM.
AEDT guess what everyone daylight savings ends on Sunday morning and we can stop having
You can watch the whole season live on KS sports.
Get behind the girls.
And if you are excited about the netball season,
go listen to that episode with Joe Western super W here.
It's finals time.
two sides are looking to book their place in the big dance.
The Reds host the Fiji on a drew at 1 PM.
AEDT before the war.
It has host the Western force at 3 PM.
You can watch both semis live on Stan sport.
Why are you adding?
You literally were holding it the whole time and I still cut you off.
You you're all business.
if you're in Sydney,
I'd over laugh at me.
Laugh at my face on the sideline.
And I just wanted to add,
you're listening to this on Tuesday morning on your commute.
First thing like good humans.
Make sure if you've got a telly on final four,
TCU and Texas 10 AM tip off and pageback is Yukon verse Dawn's dailies.
USC is the other game 12 PM,
both on ESPN Tuesday.
How good that's the rap.
Now that is now goodbye.