OVOAWL | Sharks looking to down Devils

Published Fri 26 Apr 2019

The last regular round for the 2019 OVO Australian Waterpolo League season has arrived with finals positions still up for grabs, the round 11 OVO Play live stream match will see ACU Cronulla Sharks host Sydney Uni Lions at their newly renovated pool.

With their finals hopes still alive, Michaela Davies from the Sharks women's team says the group is feeling relaxed ahead of the must win clash.

"To be honest I don't think any of us had finals in our mind for the last couple of weeks, but now we know it's achievable we're going into this weekend quite chilled.

"We're coming to a point in our season where we are peaking and in good form," she said.

It has been a collective effort from their whole community which have got them to where they are today.

"We struggled to get a team together prior to the season but our juniors are coming through and now we have such a good foundation. Plus our coaching staff have worked so hard to bring us together during that time.

"We've shown some good resilience over the last few weeks, in the past when we get into high pressure situations we have struggled to pull it together but during the last couple of weeks we have really rallied," she said.

Speaking on what they expect from a Drummoyne Devils outfit, Davies says Sharks know they will come out firing.

"They'll come out all guns blazing, they would've been watching us across the season and going over what worked well for them during our round one clash.

"At the end of the day there is a good rivalry between our two teams, a lot of the girls play and train with each other at NSWIS or through other high level development squads, so I think it will be a fun but intense match," she said.

Drummonye Devils men's player Jack Rector says his group are wary of the Sharks outfit who beat the highly fancied Fremantle Mariners in round 10.

"Cronullla have a pretty young team and will always be a worry.

"In first round we won against them but in a close game," he said.

Currently sitting in top spot by one point on the men's ladder, Retor says the Devils didn't place too many expectations on themselves at the beginning of their 2019 season.

"At the start of the season we didn't want to put certain expectations on ourselves.

"As the year progressed we knew we could compete with every team, so we wanted to win all the games we could. If we are playing well on the day, we can beat anybody," he said.

Rector says their success has come off the back of a mix of senior players and new recruits.

"I think the fact they're is the fact a lot of older guys who have played tougher for a long time has been awesome.

"Those senior players have really helped developed our younger guys. Then the talent of the Edwards brothers (Blake and Lachlan) and Nic Brooks is also very helpful," he said.

In other matches across the round, there are teams chasing their spot in next weekend's OVO AWL Finals Series to be played at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre from 3-5 May.

Following their live stream match on Saturday ACU Cronulla Sharks line up against UNSW Wests.

UNSW Wests also are scheduled to square off with UTS Balmain Tigers this Saturday at the UNSW Fitness and Aquatic centre.

Sydney Uni Lions go head to head with two cross town rivals across the weekend with a Friday night showdown against Drummoyne Devils followed by a Sunday spectacular against UTS Balmain Tigers to wrap up the round.

THE ROAD AHEAD

In the women's competition, UTS Balmain Tigers have secured the minor premiership with one round to play, while Queensland Thunder currently hold onto second spot, but UNSW Wests Killer Whales are breathing down their neck for a top two finish.

Fremantle Marlins are running fourth and will compete in the finals series while UWA Torpedoes and Hunter Hurricanes face a nervous wait to see if results fall their way to play finals.

Sydney uni Lions and ACU Cronulla Sharks are currently outside the top six but with important wins across the round can put themselves in finals contention.

To view the women's OVO AWL ladder - click here.

While for the men's competition, Drummoyne Devils and UNSW Wests Magpies will finish top two with results in round 11 to determine the order.

Fremantle Mariners (third), Hunter Hurricanes (fourth) and Sydney Uni (fifth) will all converge on Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre in early May for finals, while Queensland Thunder currently in sixth position wait and see if UTS Balmain Tigers leap frog them on the ladder for that last finals spot.

To view the men's OVO AWL ladder - click here.