In rugby league news today, Wests Tigers captain Jarome Luai has been called into the NSW Blues squad after five-eighth Mitch Moses was ruled out with a calf strain.

Luai will start in next week’s State of Origin Game Two alongside his former halves partner Nathan Cleary. Moses will be missed but the news can’t be too bad for the Blues given Luai and Cleary won four consecutive premierships together at the Panthers.

It’s Thursday, do your footy tips!

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The consecutive number of golf majors that Australian Adam Scott will have started in when he tees off at the U.S. Open tonight (AEST). The US Open is the third men’s golf major of the year and is being played at Oakmont in Pennsylvania. Scott is one of six Australians playing in the tournament (the others are Min Woo Lee, Cam Davis, Cameron Smith, Jason Day, and Marc Leishman). World number one Scottie Scheffler is the resounding favourite after having won three of his last four starts.

"I get to live out my childhood dream, playing footy for the oldest club at the MCG, and I'm excited and grateful to be a Demon for life."
Melbourne Demons star Kysaiah Pickett after he signed a seven-year deal, which will see him remain with the club until the end of 2034. The 24-year-old is now the longest contracted player in the league. Pickett’s existing contract will see him through until the end of 2027 before the new one begins.

Australian Olympic weightlifter and CrossFit Games athlete Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr has won seven CrossFit Games titles - more than any other athlete in the history of the sport.

🏀 The Indiana Pacers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 116-107 in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. The result sees the Pacers take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Bennedict Mathurin starred for the Pacers, coming off the bench to score 27 points. Meanwhile, the Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was limited to just 24 points after averaging 36 across the opening two games. The Pacers will retain their home-court advantage for Game 4 before both teams head to Oklahoma for Game 5. 

🏊 Canadian swim star Summer McIntosh has broken a third world record within five days. The 18-year-old swam a time of 4 minutes and 23.65 seconds in the women’s 400m individual medley at the Canadian Swimming trials, beating her own world record in the event. Earlier in the week, she set new world records for the 200m individual medley and the 400m freestyle. She is the first swimmer to have broken three long-course (50m pool) world records at a single event since Michael Phelps at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

🏏 A thrilling start to the World Test Championship final between South Africa and Australia saw 14 wickets fall on the opening day. South Africa won the toss and opted to bowl first, taking all 10 Australian wickets for just 212 runs. South African fast bowler Kagiso Rabada took five wickets for 51 runs. Beau Webster was Australia’s best batsman, remaining unbeaten on 72 runs. The Australian bowling attack of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Pat Cummins struck back in the final session, taking four wickets between them and limiting South Africa to 43 runs. South Africa will resume their first innings tonight at 7:30pm (AEST).

🎾 The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), the governing body for professional women’s tennis, has introduced a policy that will protect the rankings of players who undergo fertility protection treatments, lasting until they return to play. Players will now be able to take time off to undergo procedures such as egg or embryo freezing. The top 750 players in singles or doubles will be eligible for the protected ranking. The new policy is part of a recent series of changes the WTA has made to empower players to “combine professional sport with family life”. Earlier this year, for example, the governing body introduced paid maternity leave for many players. 

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has condemned the Enhanced games and suggested that U.S. authorities should intervene to stop the event from going ahead. 

The Enhanced Games will see athletes competing in swimming, athletics, and weightlifting without the usual bans on performance-enhancing drugs. 

The inaugural event is scheduled to take place in Las Vegas in May next year. 

At a meeting of Olympic sports bodies in Lausanne, Switzerland, WADA president Witold Banka told the Associated Press: "This initiative seeks to normalise the use of potentially dangerous drugs. For the sake of athlete health and the purity of sport of course it must be stopped."

Banka then suggested that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) could play a role in preventing the Enhanced Games from going ahead. 

USADA boss Travis Tygart responded: "Banka's indignation equals his misinformation or ignorance about how free democratic societies and markets work. If he really wants to ask U.S. authorities to do something, he should show up and ask the Senate to do something."

WADA will be the topic at a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing next week, which is titled: “WADA Shame: Swimming in Denial Over Chinese Doping”.

WADA and USADA have been at odds since the American agency accused WADA of mishandling the case of 23 Chinese swimmers who failed drug tests in the lead-up to the Paris Olympics.

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Australian soccer players are calling on their governing body, Football Australia, to improve its integrity training and stop gambling companies from offering wagers on yellow cards. 

It follows a series of match-fixing scandals in the A-League, Australia’s top professional football league, in the past year.

Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) CEO Beau Busch told The Daily Aus: “After two incidents in 12 months, it is essential that Football Australia reviews, strengthens and invests in comprehensive, high-quality integrity training to safeguard the players and the game. 

He added: "It’s not enough to simply deliver an online webinar to players. We need to constantly review and improve what’s being taught, how it’s being delivered, and how players are engaging with it.”

The PFA has also urged Football Australia to ban gambling on yellow cards. 

Referees can issue yellow cards to players as a warning for misconduct. Some gambling sites allow bets on how many yellow cards will be handed out in a game.

According to a report from the ABC, Football Australia is in the process of amending its contracts with gambling companies.

Another investigation from the ABC in 2023 revealed that the sport’s governing body receives a cut of every bet placed on football matches in Australia. 

Last week, two men in their twenties were charged as part of a “sporting integrity investigation” by Victoria Police. 

The unnamed men are accused of manipulating four recent A-League games. 

They are expected to face court in Melbourne on 31 July.

Western United – an A-League team in Melbourne’s western suburbs – confirmed one of its players has been charged with gambling-related offences. 

The club said it’s “cooperating fully” with investigations and takes “any actions that compromise the integrity of the game” seriously.

Victoria Police allege the men were engaged in “conduct that corrupts... a betting outcome.” It is believed they were involved in a scheme that manipulated the number of yellow cards awarded during games. 

In May 2024, NSW Police arrested three A-League players over an alleged corrupt betting scheme.

The captain of the southwestern Sydney club Macarthur FC is accused of taking instructions from an international crime figure to manipulate the number of yellow cards awarded during games. 

It’s alleged he recruited two teammates to assist in the scheme for a cut of betting profits. 

The three players were stood down by the club. 

Court proceedings are ongoing. 

Police have not released any information indicating that the Macarthur and Western United investigations are connected.