Australian Youth Men's Team FINA World Championships Campaign

Published Tue 16 Aug 2022

GAME 7: AUSTRALIA 22 d KAZAKHSTAN 3

The Australian Men's Youth Team have wrapped up their FINA Youth Men's World Championships campaign with a dominant win over Kazakhstan, 22-3.

After some tough losses in the cross over matches and early classification stages, the win will give the Australian Men a great confidence boost.

Harrison Miller and Spencer Burdack were the top goal scorers for the Aussies, with four goals each, followed by Harry Tucker and Thomas Rathbone with three each.

The win sees the Australian men placed 11th overall.

For full results - click here

Rewatch the match: https://youtu.be/9onrC4fyex0

GAME 6: AUSTRALIA 6 def by CANADA 10

The Australian Men's Youth Team will playoff for 11th place at the FINA Youth Men's World Championships, after a tough loss to Canada in the 9-12 classification overnight.

The Aussies started slow, scoring one goal to Canada's three in the opening quarter, before a last minute rush in last quarter gave the Aussies the upper hand.

But it wasn't enough to hold back a formidable Canada, with the Aussies going down by four goals in the end.

Cronulla's Rory McKell was the top goal scorer for the Aussies, with three goals of his own. Harry Tucker, Ryan Goldschmidt and Thomas Rathbone all scored one each.

Aussie Youth Men's Head Coach John Fox said: "While you cannot fault there effort and determination it was evident the lack of intense training and competition is really taking its toll on the boys as the tournament progresses."

"We started well with two good wins but then started to struggle against some of the power houses of European polo with losses to Greece, Netherlands and Croatia."

"There were some excellent phases of play which enabled us to outscore Canada in the second half. However the game got away from us in the first half where we were just too inconsistent and didn’t capitalise on our opportunities," he said.

The Aussies will now playoff for 11th place against Kazakhstan.

For full results - click here

Rewatch the match: https://youtu.be/jjuUqrhIJCU

GAME 5: AUSTRALIA 3 def by CROATIA 14

The Australian Men's Youth Team have gone down to European powerhouses Croatia in the cross over matches at the FINA Youth Men's World Championships in Serbia overnight.

After progressing out of the group stages with two wins and two losses under their belt, the Aussies were faced with a tough task of defeating Croatia.

Despite a gallant effort, the Croats were too strong for the Australian men, the end scoreline 3-14.

The Australian Men will now play Canada in the 9-12 classification.

For full results - click here

Rewatch the match: https://youtu.be/D1bbxwPku7s

GAME 4: AUSTRALIA 10 def by NETHERLANDS 14

The Australian Youth Men's team narrowly lost to the Netherlands in their last pool match of the FINA Youth Men's World Championships in Serbia overnight.

With two wins and two losses under their belt, the Aussies have progressed to the cross over stage where they will face Croatia in game one.

Aussie Youth Men's Head Coach John Fox said that his team put up a great fight, but the more experienced team won in the end.

"It was tough because we showed glimpses of really good form when we stuck to our systems," Fox said.

"For us to come away with a performance like that after just our fourth international match together, against a team who have been playing in this environment for years, I'm really happy with.

"I'm proud of what they put out there today, but obviously we're all a little disappointed in the result.

"We've got Croatia up next, and they'll be a tough opponent. But we've got to work out how we're going to counter their strengths and expose their weaknesses.

"Our strengths will be our driving and our ability to defend, we've got a bit of work to do in the next 24 hours but we're looking forward to it," he said.

For full results - click here

Rewatch the match: https://youtu.be/tKaHRukbJW8

GAME 3: AUSTRALIA 8 def by GREECE 19

The Australian Youth Men's team had a tough loss against Greece in their third match of the FINA Youth Men's World Championships in Serbia overnight.

After starting their campaign with two strong wins against Brazil and Turkey, the Aussie men were eager to keep their winning streak alive.

But European powerhouses Greece proved too strong, claiming an 11 goal victory.

With one pool game remaining, the Aussies will look to bounce back against the Netherlands, before looking ahead to the cross over finals.

For full results - click here

Rewatch the match: https://youtu.be/JZDXtjZ_wmQ

GAME 2: AUSTRALIA 13 d TURKEY 12

Australia has won two from two games at the FINA Youth Men's World Championships in Serbia, with a narrow victory over Turkey on Saturday night.

Whilst Turkey took an early 3-2 lead in the first quarter, Australia fought back with five strong goals in the second to lead 7-5 at half time.

The second half was a closer contest, with Turkey getting one over the Aussies in the third quarter, and both teams notching four points in the fourth, but the dominant second quarter display was enough to keep the Aussies in front, to secure the victory 13-12.

Once again, Queensland's Will Valentine led the scoring effort for Australia with four goals, earning himself another man of the match.

Melville, WA player Patrick Dart said that while it wasn’t the team’s best game, it was good to get another victory on the board.

“The game wasn’t too bad, we got there in the end, but it was a tough slog and they’re a rough team,” Dart said.

The team will next face the reigning 2018 Youth World Champions, Greece in Group B round 4 on Sunday at 7pm local time (Monday 15 August, 3am AEST).

For full results - click here

Rewatch the match: https://youtu.be/coMygtH7CfE

GAME 1: AUSTRALIA 12 d BRAZIL 10

Australia has delivered an impressive opening match at the FINA Youth Men's World Championships in Serbia, defeating water polo powerhouse Brazil in 12-10.

Both teams came out strong in the opening quarter with scores locked 4-4 at the end of the first period. Brazil exerted their strength to set up a two goal lead at half time, 6-8. But the Aussie young guns rallied in the third quarter and delivered a dominate third quarter to outscore Brazile 5 goals to 1, to set up a handy 11-9 lead heading into the final period, where they held on to defensively to round out the match 12-10.

It was a good first international match for the team that saw tremendous team work across the group, with Queensland's Will Valentine leading the scoring efforts with four goals and taking out the MVP of the match.

Valintine commented post match saying: "It [feels] awesome! It was a massive slog, a couple of minutes in there absotutely hurt. But you've just got to put your head down and grind through it and trust the process and ended up with a win."

The team will now have a days rest before they take on Turkey in the second preliminary match (Sunday 14 August, 1:30am AEST).

For full results - click here

Rewatch the match - https://youtu.e/hMp9Oo8_eAA