It’s Thursday, objectively the best time of the week to get your footy tips in. 

8
The number of X Games gold medals that 15-year-old Arisa Trew has won. Trew won her eighth gold medal at the X Games in Salt Lake City, Utah, last weekend, taking out top spot in the best vert trick competition. The Olympic champion has won more gold medals at the summer X Games than any other woman. 

“Everyone the whole week has just told me to show some ticker, so I just pointed to it and said, that’s some f**king ticker.”
Australian tennis player Jordan Thompson after he defeated 64th-ranked Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi in five sets to advance to the third round at Wimbledon. When he beat Bonzi, he let out a primal scream and pointed to his heart. The 31-year-old will play the winner between Britain’s Arthur Fery and Italy’s Luciano Darderi. Hampered by a back injury, Thompson has now battled through ten sets in the opening two rounds.

After the British and Irish Lions toured New Zealand in 1977, they headed to Suva to play Fiji, where they lost 25-21. Fiji have only played the Lions once, and they are the only national rugby union team to hold an undefeated record against the Lions. 

⚽ Matildas defender Ellie Carpenter has joined Women’s Super League (WSL) club Chelsea, having signed a four-year contract with the decorated English club. The 25-year-old, who has spent the past five seasons with French club Lyon, is now set to play alongside fellow Matildas and Chelsea star Sam Kerr. Carpenter said: "I'm very proud to join such a big club, one of the biggest in women's football." Chelsea have won the Women’s Super League title six consecutive times and will be hoping that Carpenter will aid in a seventh. 

🏏 The second cricket Test between Australia and the West Indies will begin tonight (AEST) in Grenada. After winning the opening Test by 159 runs last week, the Australians lead the three-Test series 1-0. A win in Grenada would seal the series victory. Australia will be bolstered by the return of Steve Smith, who missed the first Test because of a finger injury and replaces Josh Inglis in the batting lineup. 

⚽ Switzerland lost their opening match as hosts of the 2025 Women’s Euro tournament, being beaten 2-1 by Norway. Earlier, Finland beat Iceland 1-0 to get their campaign off to a positive start. Group B’s matches tomorrow morning will see some European powerhouses in action as Belgium play Italy and Portugal take on tournament favourites Spain. 

🏉 Today marks the 10th anniversary of the killing of Adelaide Crows coach Phil Walsh. The 55-year-old was stabbed to death in his Adelaide home in the early hours of 3 July 2015 following a domestic dispute. Walsh’s son, Cy, was charged with murder but later found not guilty by reason of mental incompetence. Walsh played more than 100 games in the AFL between Collingwood, Richmond, and the Brisbane Bears before working as a coach.  Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley told The Australian in reflection: “His footy knowledge, there was no one better.”

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The British and Irish Lions produced a dominant second-half performance to beat the Queensland Reds 52-12 in Brisbane last night. 

The victory didn’t come without cost, though, as fullback Elliot Daly left the field with a suspected broken arm.

25 minutes into the match, the Reds provided Australian fans with a glimmer of hope as they traded blows with the northern hemisphere’s best and led the Lions 12-7. The Reds showed some potency in attack with impressive tries from Jeffrey Toomaga-Allen and Josh Flook. 

As the match progressed and fatigue set in, the Lions showed the depth of their international experience and punished the Reds for their mistakes. The touring side went on to score 45 unanswered points to record their second successive 50-point display. Last Saturday, the Lions beat the Force 54-7. 

Welsh flanker Jac Morgan was named the man of the match. He said: "In all fairness to the Reds, they came hard in that first half. And throughout the game, they were physical, and we knew that was going to be a challenge. But we just try building on every week… and just take it game by game."

The Lions will now take on the NSW Waratahs in Sydney on Saturday evening. On Sunday, the Wallabies will be in action against Fiji in their last match before they take on the Lions. 

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After a raft of upsets on day two, the top seeds at Wimbledon bounced back on day three. Tonight, four Aussies will be in action as they seek to join Jordan Thompson in the third round. 

In the women’s draw, Italy’s Jasmine Paolini became the latest top 10 seed to make an early exit from the tournament. The 2024 runner-up lost in three sets to Kamilla Rakhimova (6-4, 4-6, 4-6).

That leaves four top 10 seeds in the draw: sixth seed Madison Keys, world #1 Aryna Sabalenka, seventh seed Mirra Andreeva and 10th seed Emma Navarro. 

Last night, Keys cruised past Serbia’s Olga Danilović in straight sets (6-4, 6-2) to set up a clash with Germany’s Laura Siegemund. Sabalenka defeated Marie Bouzková, also in straight sets (7-6, 6-4), to set up an encounter with 2021 U.S. Open champion and British number one Emma Raducanu. If Keys and Sabalenka win their next two matches, they’ll meet in the quarterfinal. 

Tonight, Navarro will play Veronika Kudermetova, and Andreeva will need to defeat Lucia Bronzetti to join Keys and Sabalenka in the third round. 

The men’s draw has been slightly more predictable, with six top-10 seeds still in contention. Defending champion and second seed Carlos Alcaraz continued his campaign for a third straight title with a straight-sets victory (6-1, 6-4, 6-4) over British qualifier Oliver Tarvet. Fifth-seeded American Taylor Fritz played his second consecutive five-set match, beating Canada’s Gabriel Diallo (3-6, 6-3, 7-6, 4-6, 6-3). 

The other four top 10 seeds (Novak Djokovic, Jack Draper, Jannik Sinner, and Ben Shelton) are playing for a spot in the third round overnight (AEST). 

Thompson is the first and only Aussie through to the third round so far. Four more will look to join him tonight. 

16th seed Daria Kasatkina is the only Australian remaining in the women’s singles draw. She will take on Romanian veteran and 115th-ranked Irina-Camelia Begu. 

11th seed Alex de Minaur will face Frenchman Arthur Cazaux, who is ranked 115th in the world. Rinky Hijikata and Aleksandar Vukic are looking down the barrel of significantly tougher challenges. Hijikata will play American 10th seed Ben Shelton, and Vukic will go head to head with world #1 Jannik Sinner. 

You can watch Wimbledon on Channel 9 and Stan Sport.