🏉 New Era For The NRLW

Time flies, it's Thursday, 16 June

🔊 Sport Today Podcast

This morning, Sam Ferris and Martin Gabor are at the mic.

Today's listen time: 10 minutes.

Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

📺 What we're watching

🥅 10.00am - Stanley Cup Game 1 - Avalanche v Lightning - Ball Arena, Denver - Foxtel, Kayo

🏉 7.20pm - AFL - Tigers v Blues - MCG, Melbourne - Channel 7, Foxtel, Kayo

⛳ 9.30pm - US Open - The Country Club, Brookline - Foxtel, Kayo

All times are in AEST

🏉 NRLW expansion is a perfect 10

It started with a fab 4 but the NRLW has grown to the power of 10. And the good news is that it’ll only get bigger.

Golden points: Get ready for a bumper 2023 because 4 new teams have been locked in.

• We’re talking about the Raiders, Cowboys, Wests Tigers and Sharks who were announced as the new teams by the NRL on Wednesday.

• The original plan was to have 8 teams next year, but plans change. The NRL says female participation is going so well and the ratings are so high that aggressive expansion makes sense.

• There are still 6 NRL clubs not in the comp, but they want to be there one day.

Key click: Here’s everything you need to know about next year’s comp that will see every team play each other once.

What’s next: Slow down because we’ve actually got another comp starting in August. Last year’s comp got delayed to the start of this year because of COVID, so we get twice the fun in 2022. The upcoming season will still have 6 teams.

🏉 Gawn is gone but star Demon may return

It’s been a hellish few weeks for the Demons, and things just got worse.

Golden points: The defending premiers had a hot start to the season but they’ve lost 3 in a row, a couple of teammates got into a fight and now their captain is injured.

• That’s not ideal because Max Gawn is one of the best ruckmen in the league.

• He’s not gonna play for at least 3 weeks, but it could be a bit more. It didn’t look good when he rocked up in a moonboot on Tuesday. Scans confirmed he suffered a high ankle sprain in Monday’s loss to Collingwood.

• It’s not all doom and gloom for the Demons. Steven May should be back next week after he was suspended by the club for fighting teammate Jake Melksham.

What’s next: The bye has come at the perfect time for Melbourne. But it gets tough next week when they play the Brisbane Lions. That’s spicy because the Lions just replaced them at the top of the table.

🎾 No vax could see Novak banned

There’s a little bit of history repeating for Novak Djokovic, but this won’t be music to his ears.

Golden points: Remember when the former world #1 was deported from Australia because he was unvaccinated? Yeah, well, it’s sorta happening again.

• His decision to remain unvaccinated means he’ll probably miss the US Open because America doesn’t let travellers into the country if they haven’t been jabbed.

• He still has time to get the jab but Djokovic has said on the record that he won’t do it just so he can play.

• The problem for Djokovic is that he’s 2 grand slams behind Rafael Nadal, and this is an event that he can definitely win.

What’s next: He could close the gap at Wimbledon. He’s won the event 6 times and is the favourite to win it again because world #1 Daniil Medvedev and the other Russian stars aren’t allowed to play.

⛳ Major tension on the cards at the US Open

It sounds like something straight out of Hollywood, and we can’t wait to see what happens when golf’s rebels take on the loyalists at the US Open.

Golden points: The divide is getting pretty big between the players after the launch of the Saudi-backed LIV Series last week. But they’re back in America and all playing for the 3rd major of the year.

• After a bit of debate, the rebels have been given the green light to play. That means there’s plenty of attention on Phil Mickelson, who has become the unofficial face of LIV.

• The guys who stayed with the PGA Tour aren’t impressed and think the whole situation has become a distraction.

• But back to the actual golf. There are 7 Aussies in the field and world #6 Cameron Smith is a big chance to win it.

They said it: “I would love if the PGA Tour would go down (to Australia) and play some golf.” - Forget the drama. Smith just wants some golf Down Under.

Watch it: The first of 4 rounds of the US Open starts tonight at 9.30pm (AEST) on Foxtel and Kayo.

⚽ England on the wrong side of history

Things are a little bit different in the UK right now, and it has nothing to do with the weather. While we were celebrating a famous football win, English fans have been cursing an historic loss.

The score: Hungary defeated England 4-0.

Golden points: That’s not a misprint. England really did lose at home to a team ranked 35 spots below them.

• Get out the history books because this is rare. It’s their biggest loss at home since 1928 and the first time they’d lost at home to Hungary since 1953.

• It’s not like this was a friendly. This is all part of the fairly new UEFA Nations League.

• England are last in League A Group 3, and they could be relegated if they don’t win their next 2 games.

What’s next: They’ve got a bit of time to regroup before games against Italy and Germany in September. After that, it’s all about the World Cup.

Watch it: It’s a good time to be Hungarian. 

🏉 It's that time of the week!

Don't Forget Your Tips! is a weekly podcast for footy fans who are keen to get an edge in their footy tipping comp. DFYT! will give you some facts, figures and maybe even a few omens that'll help you out with your AFL and NRL footy tips every week of the footy seasons. Episodes are around 12-minutes long and drop 6am every Thursday. Listen on Apple, Spotify and your favourite podcast app. Enjoy!

👀 Quick singles

🥊 Justis Huni confirmed that he’s really good at boxing. The heavyweight beat Joseph Goodall last night and is now ranked in the top 15 in 3 of boxing’s sanctioning bodies.

⚽ Australia’s dream run at the Under-23 Asian Cup is over. They lost 2-0 to Saudi Arabia in the semis last night.

⚽ New Zealand players and their coach are filthy with the referee after their World Cup hopes ended yesterday. NZ had a goal disallowed and a player sent off in the 1-0 loss to Costa Rica.

🥅 Did someone say dynasty? The Tampa Bay Lightning can win their 3rd Stanley Cup in a row when their ice hockey series against Colorado starts today.

🏀 Corey Webster has a new NBL team. The 3-time NBL champ is off to the Perth Wildcats after an epic career with the Breakers.

🏏 Marnus Labuschagne’s stay at the top of the ICC men’s Test batting rankings is over. The Aussie star has been replaced by England’s Joe Root after his 4th century of the year.

🙃 Left of field...

Bow down to the new batting emperor of cricket. His name is Steffan Nero and he is incredible.

Golden points: Nero plays for the Australian Blind Cricket Team and is putting up record-breaking numbers. 

• You didn’t want to be an NZ bowler on Tuesday. Nero was in one of those moods with the bat and ended up hitting a world record 309 not out off 140 balls.

• That smashed the previous record of 262 set by Pakistan’s Masood Jan in 1998.

• He’s now scored 100+ in 3-straight games. But here’s the biggie. He’s just the 8th Aussies to score 300 in any format.

Watch it: Check out the epic knock that has Nero in the record books.

📽 The highlight reel

Nick Kyrgios is warming up for Wimbledon. He beat Stefanos Tsitsipas at Halle and some of these shots have to be seen to be believed.

📸 Photo finish

Sun's out, guns out? David Warner has snapped teammates Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne soaking up the Sri Lankan sun.

🏃‍♀️ The finish line

🏆 Today's trivia answer

Spaniard Jon Rahm won by one stroke.