Sienna Green

When Sienna Green realised as a nine-year-old that water polo combined the two sports she loved, she was hooked.

“I started playing when I was nine because my parents and older brother played water polo,” she said. “It combined the other sports I played at the time of swimming and basketball and I instantly fell in love.

“I really enjoyed the physicality and strategy of the game and I just loved playing.”

After winning an Australian Water Polo League title with the University of Sydney Lions in 2021, Sienna captained the national under-18 team, before earning her first cap for the Australian women’s team, the Stingers, in 2022.

She made her debut with the Stingers against Canada in March of 2022. Sienna served as captain and was the highest goal-scorer of the Australian team at the 2022 FINA World Women's Youth Water Polo Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.

Following a successful US college season for UCLA in 2023, in which she shone not only as a central defender but also as an increasingly effective presence in attack – scoring 39 goals in 29 games – Sienna was selected in the Stingers’ 2024 world championships squad.

The 193cm utility played in all of the Stingers’ seven games, marking some of the world’s best attackers while scoring nine goals herself. Australia finished sixth at the Doha tournament.

Sienna earned particular praise from commentators when she scored two goals in quick succession in a thrilling 9-10 quarter-final loss to reigning Olympic champions USA.

NSW Institute of Sport water polo program head coach Jacki Northam has described Sienna as “a player to watch … ready to unleash on the world”.

At the Paris 2024 Olympics Sienna and the Stingers became the most successful Australian water polo team ever at an overseas Olympic Games.

Their silver medal performance was close to being gold, going down 11-9 to world number one Spain in the gold medal match.

They got there with an undefeated run in the group matches against the Netherlands, Hungary, China and Canada with two of those wins coming via penalty shootout. They took out Greece in the quarter-finals and world powerhouse the USA in the semis in another penalty shootout.