WATER POLO: The Australian men’s and women’s water polo teams delivered big wins for their local fans, claiming victories in the opening test matches against Japan in Brisbane on Thursday night.
Off the back of their recent silver medal at the 2018 FINA World Cup, the Aussie Sharks held off a fast and physical Japanese team to take 13-9 win.
In the lead up to last night’s match, dual Olympian Aidan Roach took over the Australian Olympic Team Instagram account to give fans a behind the scenes look into the workings of the Aussie Sharks ahead of last night’s exciting game.
A relaxed Roach chatted with his teammates, the national coach and even sat down for a quick chat with Japan’s goal keeper to ask him about his time in Australia.
Check out the Instagram Takeover below.
The phone went away when it was time to get down to business and focus on the job at hand. And focus the team did, taking an early lead against Japan to lead 6-3 at half time.
The team broke away in the second half, with Captain Joel Dennerly admitting the crowd really helped the boys deliver.
“It’s always fun playing in front of a home crowd, we’re not often fortunate enough to have games here,” said Dennerley.
“They were very vocal, very supportive, which created a great atmosphere to help get the result against a tough Japan team.
“We’ve had a couple days of training with them, we’ve been fortunate enough to train against them a few times over the last couple of years.
“So, we’ve tried to adapt our defensive style to offset their attack,” he said.
It was a true team effort for the Aussie Sharks in their attack with eight goal scorers including Roach, Richie Campbell, Angus Lambie, Lachlan Edwards, Lachlan Hollis, Andrew Ford, Rhys Howden and Blake Edwards.
In the women’s match up, the Aussie Stingers dominated against Japan, taking out the first test with a 18-6 win.
The Stingers welcomed some fresh faces to the squad as well as the return of more familiar faces including dual Olympian Ash Southern.
Southern, who was back in the Aussie Stingers line up for the first time since the Rio Olympic Games, slotted back into the squad with ease scoring four goals.
The Aussie Sharks and Stingers will take on Japan again tonight (Friday January 18) in front of a sold out crowd at the Valley Pool, Brisbane. Follow Water Polo Australia for all the updates.
olympics.com.au/Water Polo Australia
