Balmain 18&U Boys take gold medal in final

UTS Balmain Tigers 18&U Boys have defeated local team Brisbane Barracudas to secure the gold medal at the 2020 KAP7 Australian Youth Water Polo Championships.

The Tigers put themselves in front early, with two goals early in the first quarter. But the Barracudas boys weren’t going to give up that easily, scoring two goals in the second quarter, equal to the Tiger’s second quarter haul.

Coming out of the second half, the Tigers started to build momentum and ran away with the match in the last quarter courtesy of strong defensive plays. The final score in the men’s match was 8-5..

Tigers captain Joel Smith said that his team was not expecting the win.

“It’s pretty surreal, I don’t think it’s really kicked in yet. We didn’t really expect to go this far in the tournament but we have and we’re all really proud of ourselves,” Smith said.

“We had them in the first quarter, but then we had a little bit in the second and third where we scared ourselves but in the fourth we really pushed through and played some quality water polo.

“There’s no better way to finish, we’ve been playing together since we were 12 and to make the final at our last nationals together - we couldn’t be feeling better,” he said.

Coach Phil Bower said he was proud of the effort his side put in, not just today but throughout the tournament.

“At the start of the week we knew what we had to do and it was great that we didn’t have to change any of our plans and I’m very proud of the boys,” Bower said.

“We played good polo, this week was all about playing polo and I think we’ve done that.”

Tigers’ Goalkeeper Charlie Hunter was named Most Valuable Goalkeeper, with Most Valuable Player going to Tigers’ Daniel Munk.

UWA Bears defeated their western counterparts Melville Sharks to claim the bronze medal.

For full results – visit the Match Centre.

Want to watch the game? Catch the game in full on OVO Play.

Final standings

Gold - UTS Balmain Tigers
Silver - Brisbane Barracudas
Bronze - UWA Bears
4 - Melville Sharks
5 - Sydney Uni Blue
6 - ACU Cronulla Sharks
7 - Canberra Dolphins
8 - Adelaide Jets
9 - Drummoyne Devils Red
10 - Richmond Tigers 
11 - QUT Wolves
12 - UWA Blue
13 - Hunter Hurricanes Blue
14 - UNSW Wests Magpies
15 - Hobart Combined
16 - Drummoyne Devils Black
17 - HBHS
18 - Canberra Dolphins/Barras
19 - River City
20 - SNB Breakers
21 - Hunter Hurricanes Grey
22 - Adelaide Stealth

MVP - Daniel Munk (UTS Balmain Tigers)

MVG - Charlie Hunter (UTS Balmain Tigers)