On Inzane Rugby League this week, Zane Bojack and Sam Williams are joined by AAP reporter Joel Gould to talk about the NRL’s discussions in the US with Disney, DAZN and Netflix ahead of the next broadcast deal. 

The trio also talked about the skill of keeping your Captain’s Challenge to the dying minutes with NZ, Canterbury and Manly coming up trumps at the weekend. 

The panel applauded the appointment of Kevin Walters as Kangaroos coach and also played the Quiz and “Yay or Neigh” game with Zane, Joel and Sam questioning how the NRL’s salary cap will cope with Cameron Munster looking likely to earn $2 million per season at the Perth Bears. 

Greece’s men’s water polo team has cruised their way into the semi-finals with a dominant 17-11 victory over Italy at the World Water Polo Championship in Singapore.

The men’s team dominated in their match with the 2024 runner-up, taking advantage of Matteo Iocchi Gratta’s send-off in the first period to win the quarter-final and book a ticket against Spain in the semi-finals on Tuesday 22 July.

The win marked an historic moment as both Greece’s men’s and women’s teams reached the semi-finals of the same competition for the first time in the history of the World Aquatic Championships (of which the water polo events are part of).

The men’s team started well, with Kakaris and Nikolaidis winning two penalties in the first few minutes (one of which was converted, and the other seeing Argyropoulos send the ball against the post) and Panagiotis Tzortzatos making consecutive saves.

The Greek team led 3-1 and, at 1.50 minutes before the end of the first quarter, Iocchi Gratta hit Argyropoulos in the head out of phase and the referees, after consulting the video, sent him off.

Playing for four minutes with a numerical advantage, the Greeks had a great opportunity and did not let it go to waste, surging into a 7-1 lead.

The numerical balance was restored, but the Italians seemed helpless to react.

The Greek defence was strong, with Tzortzatos especially standing out with a remarkable 16 saves, and the difference increased even more, with Nikolaidis putting them 9-1 ahead with an impressive 2-meter rebound.

The Italians made a desperate effort to get back into the game, reducing the deficit on various occasions (9-3 and 11-5), but despite the consecutive expulsions and the loss of players with three penalties, the Greek team managed the match well enough without ever being at risk of loss.

The eight minutes (with the typical home team Italy first): 1-6, 1-3, 4-4, 5-4

ILOILO, Philippines — Bagyong Baldo is in the City of Passi Arena. 

Alyssa Valdez proved once more on why she’s called “The Phenom,” as she made it rain and stuffed the statistical sheet, recording a triple-double performance in the Iloilo leg of the 2025 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) On Tour last Sunday, July 20. 

Valdez fired 19 points (16 attacks, and three aces), along with 11 excellent digs and 15 excellent receptions to lift the Cool Smashers past Chery Tiggo in four sets. 

The 32-year-old volleyball icon expressed her gratitude to the unwavering support of the Ilonggos, especially when Creamline absorbed a shocking loss against ZUS on the first day of the Iloilo leg.

“It’s my first time here in Passi. It’s great that we have our seventh man here also in Iloilo. It’s just so nice that we have lost the last game but the support is still solid on our second game,” she said.

She made an all-around performance and flaunted her defensive side to fill up the absence of Bernadeth Pons, who is with the national beach volleyball team, and Tots Carlos, who has a minor injury.

With “Vintage Valdez” all over in social media, as she showed why she’s referred as the Philippine volleyball icon,  the former Ateneo de Manila University stalwart remained humble and credited her teammates.

“With the help of my teammates, and my coaches, hopefully, I’ll be more consistent and prepare more for the upcoming games,” she said while smiling and with satisfaction.

Coming off from back-to-back losses, an unfamiliar territory for Creamline, Valdez shared that the key to win against Chery Tiggo is to re-learn to enjoy volleyball again.

“Honestly, I think one thing that we realized, and we learned is that to enjoy the game and respect the game,” she said.

“We had a lot of lapses, and very specific lapses during our game (against ZUS) so we adjusted,” she added.

Creamline capped the first round with a 3-2 win-loss card.

In the quarter finals of the World Aquatics Championships, the Australian Women’s Water Polo went down to World Cup champions Greece by one goal in the dying seconds of the game, 8-7.

The scores were locked 7-7 with eight seconds left on clock, but the Aussie Stingers inexplicably turned over the ball and Greece managed to swim toward the Aussie goal, shooting from outside to beat the buzzer, scoring with two seconds left on the clock. 

There were never more than two goals separating the teams throughout the game, and while Greece were able to take narrow leads at the end of the second and third quarters, the momentum had certainly shifted the Aussies’ way in the final quarter. 

It was always going to be an emotion-charged game for the two sides, having faced off in the quarter finals at the 2024 Paris Olympics where Australia were able to take the win and go on to win the silver medal. But like Australia, the Greeks have a new look team and have already achieved strong results in this Olympic cycle. 

Newly named Aussie Stingers captain, dual Olympian and NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder Bronte Halligan, said naturally the team is devastated that they won’t have the opportunity to play for a World Championship medal. 

“That’s a really tough result. As Bec [Rippon, Aussie Stingers Head Coach] put it ‘that quarter final water polo you’ve got to take stick in it right to the end’ and we did.  The Greeks also did that but we showed real heart out there and I couldn’t be more proud of our girls for water polo we put together out there tonight.”

“We put together four quarters of tough, hard on the line water polo and that’s all you can ask for as a Captain.  It’s a tough loss and it’s going to sting for a little bit, but the girls will hold their heads high knowing we did everything we could have. 

“Four of the girls in our team, it was their first quarter final, and quarter finals water polo at a World Championships is always tough, it’s do or die. The result didn’t go our way, but I think we can take a lot away from that game. 

“This is a stepping stone and we really want to build this squad, we have a lot more goals. I think it’s exciting to see where we are going to go over the next few years during this Olympic cycle,” she said. 

Rippon echoed Halligan’s sentiment, saying despite the disappointment of the loss, there is a lot they can build on from here as they set their sights on LA 2028. 

“We spoke about it before the game, that this is what we do all the hard work for, these big moments, and we go out there and leave everything we’ve got in the pool and I think we did that tonight. 

“It is a heartbreaking way to lose, but we did leave everything out there and I’m proud of the team.”

“We played them [Greece] in Paris, but they had a different group and a different style.  They’ve really changed since then and we saw that at the World Cup earlier this year and they have shown they are definitely a team to be reckoned with. This is not a surprise that they’re up here competing for the medals. 

“We came here with big ambitions so to not reach those is disappointing, but if I can just look at the games we’ve played and the things that we’ve learnt and the performances we’ve put forward, I’m proud. 

“We now need to go home and analyse this campaign as we continue to build towards LA 2028,” she said. 

The team includes multiple NSWIS scholarship holders such as Hayley Ballesty, Sienna Green, Bronte Halligan, Sienna Hearn, Dani Jackovich, Tilly Kearns, Alexie Lambert, Gen Longman, and Olivia Mitchell, as well as NSWIS staff – Senior Sports Physiotherapist Bernie Petzel and Sport Performance Analyst Joshua Dipple.

Australia will now meet Japan on Monday 21 July at 6:00pm AEST in the classification matches. 

Water Polo Australia