Australian Sharks Head Coach John Fox has named a fast, young team full of National League club combinations for next week’s preliminary  round of the men’s water polo FINA World League in Auckland (May 9-13).

Led by the Victorian Tigers’ experienced 177-Test centre back Sam McGregor, the squad includes four field players from the National League minor premier Fremantle Mariners and three members of the Brisbane Barracudas squad.

Barracudas centre forward BJ Howden will make his senior national team debut in the team alongside his brother Rhys who will add to his 94 senior caps.

The team will play a game each against China, Japan, New Zealand and Kazakhstan before returning to Sydney for the second round the following week (May 16-20) where some changes are expected to be made to the squad.

Fox, who will lead the team to the FINA World Championships in Shanghai in July and the Olympic Games in London next year, said he was keen to give a number of players international experience this year as the team heads towards a critical part of this Olympic cycle.

“We’ve got a squad of 30 players and I am keen to give all 30 players a chance to play international water polo this year,” Fox said.

“The team for Auckland will utilise the National League combinations from Fremantle and a few other teams and works nicely off the back of the National League finals.

“It’s allowed us to have the guys from the West Coast here with us and not have to worry so much about travel forward and back.”

A good performance in the preliminary rounds will see the Sharks qualify for the World League finals in June in Florence with the carrot at the end of that tournament an Olympic qualification spot for the winner. Australia was fourth in last year’s World League finals.

The team will leave for Auckland after the National Water Polo League finals that end at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre on Saturday.

Auckland round team:
Goalkeepers: LUKE QUINLIVAN (WA), JOHN HAHN (NSW)
Field Players: RICHARD CAMPBELL (NSW), TIMOTHY CLELAND (WA), NICHOLAS O’HALLORAN (WA), DAN YOUNG (QLD), JAMES HOWDEN (QLD), DANIEL LAWRENCE (WA), SAM McGREGOR (VIC), JOEL SWIFT (WA), BILLY MILLER (QLD), RHYS HOWDEN (QLD), DAVID WILL (QLD), BLAKE EDWARDS (VIC)


Australian Water Polo Inc