Australia got its FINA World League water polo campaign off to a thumping start with a 22-4 thrashing of New Zealand on Tuesday.

Everyone in Australia's 13-man squad, aside from their goalkeeper, got on the scoresheet with Daniel Lawrence, Sam McGregor and Joel Swift each putting three past the Kiwi goalkeeper.

The Sharks led by four goals at quarter time before piling on the pressure in the second quarter to take at 13-2 lead into the main break leaving coach John Fox happy with his charges.

"That win was good to blow some cobwebs out with the boys having not played together for awhile," Fox said.

"We have a rest day tomorrow which gives us the opportunity to get some good training under our belt in preparation for our remaining three games."

Standings from the Auckland leg will be combined with next week's Sydney round with the top two teams progressing to the final eight for the World League Super Finals in Florence, Italy from June 21-26.

The winner of that tournament automatically qualifies for a berth in the London Olympics. Australia was fourth in last year's World League finals.

AAP