There’s never a shortage of women in sport stories for us to cover, but this week has been extra busy for us all. And we’re here for it!
This weekend saw the 2020 Super Netball season finally launch in its new Queensland hub. With three state derbies taking place, a host of rule changes designed to help teams cope with a condensed fixture and plenty of opportunities for some new faces to hit the court, the weekend certainly delivered. And it wasn’t glamorous at all. It was perfect. A number of those youngsters had a big say in the games, including the impressive debut of Tippah Dwan at the Firebirds and Kate Eddy at the Vixens.
Debate about the two-point ‘super shot’ continued across the weekend, but Jo Harten from the Giants was pretty clear about her thoughts!
The AFLW Trade and Sign period began yesterday and Gemma has her brain firmly focused on trade updates—stay tuned for her comprehensive analysis once the dust settles. We’ve already seen Sarah Hosking make the jump from Carlton to Richmond, Grace Campbell shock Tigers fans by leaving for the Kangaroos and Jayde Van Dyk reunite with her ex-VFLW coach Paddy Hill at the Saints.
Another thing that’s caught our attention has been the somewhat odd scheduling of this year’s Women’s Indian Premier League cricket competition from November 1 to 10, landing smack bang in the middle of the already fixtured WBBL tournament. Alyssa Healy was quick to point this out.
Plenty to talk about and plenty of stories to tell—as there always is in the wonderful world of women’s sports!
In this issue
We have a rundown of the opening round of Super Netball—we’ll be continuing this weekly throughout the season so stay tuned. Gemma Bastiani spoke with Molly Strano about why isolation has been a blessing in disguise and Kirby Fenwick and Gemma dug into the federal funding provided to FOX Sports with some interesting results.
Why isolation has been a blessing in disguise for Molly Strano
By Gemma Bastiani
Molly Strano representing Australia. Image: Cricket Australia
A late call up to the T20 World Cup squad was special for Molly Strano, even if it meant running waters for the historic final.
Women’s sport requires visibility, not a paywall
By Kirby Fenwick and Gemma Bastiani
July saw the Federal government announce they would be handing another $10m in funding to FOX Sports, to improve the coverage of women’s and niche sports.
Super Netball Round One wrap up
The NSW Swifts gather for a pep talk. Image: Suncorp Super Netball
Catch up on the results of the weekend’s netball matches, including what the fans had to say online!
Halftime Huddle
NEW EPISODE ALERT!
In honour of the AFLW Sign and Trade Period commencing this week, Sarah and Taylor spoke to retired AFLW star Melissa Hickey. She has been a part of the AFLW competition since day one and has helped shape the pathway for so many women to follow in her footsteps.
Melissa chats about her life before and after football, and discusses the difference between the men's and women's competition. She is ambitious, inspiring and determined. Get this legend in your ears!
Missed an episode of the Halftime Huddle? Head to their dedicated page to see all their great athlete interviews!
Nike released their #YouCantStopUs campaign. And wow. Well done.
After hugely successful broadcast numbers from the opening weekend of WNBA, thirteen additional WNBA games have been added to the broadcast schedule for ESPN networks and ABC in the US. We love to see more women’s sport on TV!
And speaking of broadcast records, the NWSL also smashed one!
Another fun thing out of the WNBA restart was the orange league logo hoodie has become the most wanted piece of sports merchandise. Who woulda thunk it, people want to watch women play sport on TV and wear merch??
We are wishing New York Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu a speedy recovery after she sprained her ankle, a devastating blow for the number 1 draftee.
Australian women’s sport also made a much welcome return to TV this weekend with the long awaited return of the Super Netball.
Brittany Carter writes on how Super Netball's long delayed restart comes with additional challenges of player pregnancies. Before the season got underway, Erin Delahunty wrote about how the nimble Super Netball mirrors players' skillset as the new season finally got started.
Be sure to check out the new netball podcast, The Netty Life.
Lexie Brown of the Minnesota Lynx spoke to Just Women’s Spots on the WNBA’s return, life in the #wubble and the league’s ongoing dedication to Breonna Taylor and #SayHerName.
Yvette Wroby writes on the AFL Pride Game and its personal meaning for her and her family.
The AFL is offering clubs a subsidy of $200,000 per year outside the $6.2 million soft cap to encourage them to employ or retain women and Indigenous people in their football departments.
Congratulations to Lesa Gray for being elected Club President of the Ballarat Golf Club, she has become the first woman president in the club’s 125 year history.
From something that really brought us all down—see last week’s newsletter—this response was absolutely perfect. And we love to see sponsors and brands be strong advocates of the sports they support. The women in sport community remembers the allies.
Runner up
Much better.
Support us
We really appreciate your support in signing up to our newsletter. If you’d like to further support us in our mission to build Siren we have a few options.
For $5 a month, you can become a Siren Supporter where you’ll receive access to our exclusive AFLW stats database and our Australian women’s sport calendar. We’ve recently added the option to pay a full year’s subscription up front if that works better for you!
You can also make a one-off donation of $10 if a regular subscription isn’t your thing.
If you can’t financially support us, just sharing the word about our newsletter would be wonderful. Forward Siren to all your women’s sport loving friends and encourage them to subscribe!
We are also open to discussions from businesses and organisations about sponsorship and collaboration opportunities. Contact us at contact@sirensport.com.au to start a conversation.