OVO AWL | Hurricanes brace for Sharks in Newcastle Harbour

Published Thu 21 Feb 2019

The Hunter Hurricanes are set to welcome ACU Cronulla Sharks to Queens Wharf in this week’s live stream match as part of round four of the OVO Australian Waterpolo League competition.

This weekend, six teams will be involved in 10 matches taking place in Australia’s Hunter, Sydney and Adelaide regions.

In the men’s harbour clash it will be a rematch of the 2018 bronze medal match which ACU Cronulla Sharks took by a narrow margin of two goals.

Hurricanes Head Coach Daniel Robinson says both sides have undergone changes but Hunter are still expecting a dangerous Cronulla team for a new chapter in their rivalry.

“I expect them to be fast. From what I’ve seen their line-up might have a little less experience than previous years, but when you’re inexperienced you’re very hungry, so we’re wary.

“Traditionally Hunter and Cronulla games have been very physical and aggressive game, the bronze medal game was no different,” he said.

Robinson will be looking to a few key players in his team in a bid to record round four wins this weekend.

“Overall it will be a collective team effort, but we do rely heavily on our goalkeeper Christopher Whitelegge and Daniel Lawrence who has been one of our key attackers scoring a lot of goals this year.

“Mitch Baird and Gordon Marshall have also been pivotal in our wins so far, when we haven’t been able to feed them the ball we haven’t gone as well,” he said.

Looking to turn around their form after two losses last weekend, Hurricanes know what they must focus on and will be boosted by excitement around the harbour event.

“Last round we had some tough loses, but this week we’re working on our extra man and making sure we have intensity in our defence systems and are communicating well.

“The boys get a good kick out of playing in the harbour, it’s something we look forward to each year.

“Playing in the harbour is amazing, it’s a really good day. A lot of work goes into it but it’s very rewarding especially for people who haven’t seen the sport.

“Last week, we had over 5,000 people from overseas on a cruise ship dock last weekend and they popped their head in which is good exposure for Newcastle as well as the sport,” said Robinson.

While the Hurricanes’ women will be looking for back to back victories to leap frog ACU Cronulla Sharks who are one point in front on the competition ladder.

One Cronulla Sharks player Hurricanes will need to shut down will be Kiara Holden who is in scintillating form leading the OVO AWL women’s goal scoring list with 19 to her name.

“We train as a team, we don’t have a focus on one single person. Although, we’ve gone to a lot of penalty shoot outs which might have helped my goals tally,” said Holden speaking on her sharp shooting.

She spoke how her side’s unique situation at not currently having access to their local pool due to redevelopments is a positive.

“We’re definitely excited for Saturday’s match in the harbour, because we haven’t had a pool this season, we have been training every week in Gunnamatta Bay.

“So the salt water won’t be too much of a shock,” she said.

Last time the two teams met in April 2018, Sharks recorded a convincing 14-4 win but she expects the score to be much closer this time.

“Hurricanes are definitely going to come out fighting, we’ve lost our big players from last season so they will feel like they have a chance.

“We’re going to go out and do what we’ve been practicing and hopefully get a win under our belt.

“Our coach is just happy with how we’re building, we know we have a lot of work to do, but once we fix up those little mistakes, she has a lot of confidence,” she said.

In other fixtures around Australia, UTS Balmain Tigers host Drummoyne Devils on Sunday at Dawn Fraser Baths in the annual Battle of the Bridges.

While Sydney Uni Lions travel to South Australia for two matches against FYFE Adelaide Jets.