Boys ready to battle it out in Brisbane

After five days of exciting water polo, the stage is set for a thrilling finals day of week one of the 2020 KAP7 Australian Youth Water Polo Championships with the 14&U and 18&U boys set to put it all on the line for Championship honours.

It will be the biggest day of water polo yet, with not only a full day of finals action but it will be capped off with the second international test match between Australia and USA at Brisbane Aquatic Centre.

A full day of water polo will be live streamed on www.play.ovo.com.au from 8:00am (local time) with all the bronze and gold medal playoffs, leading into the double header test matches for the KAP7 Aussie Sharks and the Aussie Stingers.

14&U Boys Finals

The Brisbane Barracudas Green will be looking to make the most of their home ground advantage when they take on interstate side Melbourne Collegians in the gold medal match of the 14&U boys.

With the Barracudas Club set to have teams in both the 14&U and 18&U boys divisions, the stands at Brisbane Aquatic Centre are expected to be a sea of green, as the club looks to take home two gold medals.

But in the 14&U boys, the Melbourne Collegians will be out to stage a first for their State by bringing home Victoria’s first medal from the newly formed Australian Youth Water Polo Championships.

Both teams are currently undefeated, having had some convincing wins in both the preliminary and cross over stages so fans can be prepared for an interesting tussle from the first whistle. .

Sydney Uni Blue and Sunshine Coast will take centre stage where they battle it out for the bronze medal.

Sunshine Coast will be out for redemption, having lost 9-11 to Sydney Uni earlier in the competition.

But it will be their third place finish at the recent Water Polo Queensland State Titles that they will be relying on to give them the upper hand.

Sydney Uni, who took out the 14&U boys division at the 2019 Australian Youth Water Polo Championships, will once again be looking to bring home a medal.

18&U Boys Finals

The 18&U Boys gold medal match will again see local side Brisbane Barracudas take on on interstate rivals UTS Balmain Tigers in what is tipped to be the ‘State of Origin’ style clash.

Both teams come into the Championship final undefeated… but all that will mean little tomorrow with only one team able to rise and be crowned the national champions.

Barracudas Captain Noah Bright said the boys will really have to band together if they want to take the win.

“Everyone’s feeling a bit tired after a few massive days of competition, but we’re excited to see how far we can go,” Bright said.

“We’re going to work on our game plan and hopefully get lots of rest,” he said.

“But it’s been a good tournament so far. It’s been great to see the strength of Australian water polo and hopefully we can pull it altogether tomorrow.”

Tigers Captain Joel Smith said his team will be looking to improve on their semi finals performance.

UTS Balmain Tigers Captain Joel Smith in action against ACT Photo: Harvpix

“Our semi was a really tough game, all preps to UWA, they gave it their all, but in the end we played some really good water polo,” Smith said.

“We’re going to work on our extra man...we had a lot of missed opportunities in that game so hopefully we’ll execute them tomorrow.“This will be our last nationals so we’ve all been having a really fun time and enjoying playing some great water polo,” he said.

It will be a battle of the West in the bronze medal match as cross town rivals UWA Bears and Melville Sharks prepare to face off for the chance to finish on the podium.

Both teams had some mixed results in the group stages and cross overs, but will be hoping to deliver when it matters.

There will be a strong level of familiarity between the two sides, with a close encounter expected in this medal playoff.

There will be plenty more happening around Brisbane, with the Bowl, Plate and Shield honours also on the line.

Check out the full match centre to find out who's taking on who.

Schedule for boys games LIVE on OVOPlay

8:00am - 14&U Boys bronze medal match - Sydney Uni Blue vs Sunshine Coast

8:50am - 14&U Boys gold medal match - Brisbane Barracudas Green vs Melbourne Collegians

12:10pm - 18&U Boys bronze medal match - Melville Sharks vs UWA Bears

1:20pm - 18&U Boys gold medal match - Brisbane Barracudas vs UTS Balmain Tigers