SECOND TEST MATCH DELIVERS MIXED RESULTS FOR THE AUSTRALIANS 

Another sell out crowd at Perth’s HBF Stadium for the second test of the Tri-Nations Test Series enjoyed more thrilling matches of international water polo.

The Australian Men’s Water Polo team secured their first win after defeating Japan 14-11. For the Australian Women’s team, they went down to defending Olympic and World Champions USA 5-10. 

Catch the full replays for the opening matches on KAYO Freebies. 

Leading the charge for the Aussie Sharks was co-captain and Tokyo Olympian Blake Edwards with four goals alongside Perth local and fellow Olympian Andrew Ford also with four goals. 

Aussie Sharks co-captain and Tokyo Olympian, Nathan Power, said the support from the sell out crowd helped spur on tonight’s win. 

“It was awesome, the atmosphere was really good with the home crowd. Obviously it was quite an intense game, moving backwards and forwards, changing leads and going goal for goal.

“To have the momentum come our way at the end, and to have the home crowd out here supporting us was amazing,” he said.

With just over 18 months until the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Aussie Sharks are making the most of their time in camp and training with another formidable international side. 

“We’ve been progressively building throughout this week, and for a few of the boys this is a new experience being in the Aussie Sharks camp for the first time. 

“It’s very encouraging to see session on session how we’re progressing and everyone else gets to see that output now in our games.

“The boys on debut are taking that responsibility and playing incredibly. We’ve been training hard this week as well, and to see how the debutants are progressing is really pleasing for our sport, not just for this [Olympic] cycle but for a big home Olympics in 2032 which I’m sure a few boys are eyeing off as well,” he said. 

For the Aussie Stingers, the result didn’t go quite their way, going down to the USA 5-10.  

Tokyo Olympian Elle Armit said the new look squad is still growing and will take a lot from these matches with the USA> 

“America was always going to be a really tough and physical team, we knew that coming in. 

“We’ve been training hard all week and we know everyone is quite tired but we just needed to lift. 

“We are creating the opportunities, they are there, but our execution isn’t the greatest at the moment. We are still building, still developing… I’m pretty proud of how the team is doing, including Pip [Pedley] who got a goal on debut. 

“We are back in the pool tomorrow morning, looking at those things that we need to be working on and the opportunities we missed tonight. It’s not about changing too much but just trying to get those little things right,” he said. 

Dual Olympic gold medalist and USA goalkeeper, Ashleigh Johnson, said her side is really pleased to be getting valuable game time against Australia. 

“After the first game with the tie, our team had a lot of energy and we wanted to play our hardest. I feel like we both [USA and Australia] matched each other’s energy tonight and it’s always a toss up who’s going to come up on top. 

“I’m loving the great competition and great water polo. It’s fun to see our team grow every day, Australia’s team grow every day and also see who’s up and coming. This is such a good tournament to experience, but also gain experience. 

“To have this kind of crowd, to have this kind of energy it’s all building towards Paris,” she said.  

All teams will return for the third round matches on Sunday 15 January at HBF Stadium. 

Catch the full replays for the opening matches on KAYO Freebies. 

GAME 3 I Sunday 15 January 

6:00pm (AWST) - Aussie Stingers vs USA Women 

7:30pm (AWST) - Aussie Sharks vs Japan

Game 2 Results 

MEN 

AUS 14 JPN 11 (2-3; 3-2;6-4;3-2)

AUSTRALIA: 1. JOEY PARNIS; 2. NICK HALLAM; 3. GEORGE FORD (2); 4. MILOS MAKSIMOVIC; 5. NATHAN POWER (2); 6. ANGUS LAMBIE(1); 7. MATTHEW BYRNES; 8. SAM SLOBODIEN; 9. ANDREW FORD (4); 10. MARCUS BEREHULAK; 11. ANDREJ GRGUREVIC; 12. BLAKE EDWARDS (4); 13. LAURENCE BARKER; 14. TOM MCJANNETT (1); 15. MITCH ROBINSON 

JAPAN: 1 TANAMURA Katsuyuki; 2 ADACHI Seiya (1); 3 WATANABE Taiyo (5); 4 OGIHARA Daichi (1); 5 MAITA Yuki; 6 YAMADA Nagi (1); 7 DATE Kiyomu; 8 NITTA Ikkei (1); 9 URA Itaru; 10 TSUTA Fumiya (1); 11 OKAWA Keigo (1); 12 YAMAMOTO Masayuki; 13 NISHIMURA Towa; 14 SASANO Ren

WOMEN

AUS 5 USA 10 (2-1; 3-1; 2-2; 3-1)

AUSTRALIA: 1. CLAIRE DURSTON; 2. PASCALLE CASEY (1); 3. ELLE ARMIT (1); 4. DANJIELA JACKOVICH; 5. TENEALLE FASALA; 6. JAMIE OBERMAN; 7. PIPPA PEDLEY (1); 8. SIENNA HEARN (2); 9. ZOE ARANCINI; 10. SOPHIE MILLIKEN; 11. SOFIE PONTRE; 12. MADDY STEERE; 13. GENEVIEVE LONGMAN 

USA: 1. Ashleigh Johnson; 3. Tara Prentice (2); 4. Rachel Fattal (1); 5. Jovana Sekulic; 6. Maggie Steffens; 7. Emily Ausmus (3); 8. Ava Stryker; 9. Denise Mammolito (1); 10. Rachel Gazzaniga; 11. Julia Bonaguidi; 12. Jordan Raney (3); 13. Amanda Longan