THRILLING OPEN MATCHES IN THE TRI NATIONS TEST MATCH SERIES IN PERTH 

Sold out crowds at Perth’s HBF Stadium enjoyed a thrilling night of world class water polo action between Australia, USA and Japan. 

With just 18 months until the Paris Olympics, all teams are looking to get valuable game experience as well as expose new talent to their squads. 

Australia featured six debutants in their men’s side and two in the women’s team. 

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

In the women's match, Australia held a strong 8-4 lead at half time, they unfortunately let the current Olympic and World champions back in during the second half who capitalised on small errors from the home side. 

Dual Olympian and hometown hero Zoe Arancini led her team from in front, with an impressive three goals and providing invaluable defence.  Fellow Olympian Elle Armit was also impressive with three goals with Perth native Genevieve Longman dominant in goals.

Australian Team Head Coach Paul Oberman said: “We built a really good lead but just some lapses in concentration at key moments were really critical in the final outcome of the game. 

“To finish with 10-10 is still a great result, USA are the Olympic and World Champions, so really good job by our young girls today. 

“I think they’ll all (three test matches) be a grind of a game.  All of our training [scrimmages] have been close.  So we will just need to make the most of those little opportunities that we will get… we did do that at times tonight but then we lapsed in defence. So still a couple of things to work on.”

With the Aussie Stingers playing in front of a sell out crowd as part of the 2023 Australian Youth Water Polo Championships, Oberman said the atmosphere was spectacular. 

“It’s really great to see the athletes that are competing here at the Australian Youth Water Polo Championships, for them to come and see what is the next level to really aspire to become an Aussie Stinger,” he said. 

USA Team Head Coach, Adam Krikorian said: “The effort was there, especially the second half. The Aussies were really good and tough in the first half.  We did a nice job responding in that third quarter to get us a little bit closer and obviously the fourth quarter, closing the gap. 

“I’m not surprised that it ended up in a tie, these are two great teams and obviously to play in this incredible environment. 

“It's incredible to be here doing this event. I think all of us as competitors and people who play the sport, we love the game so to be able to share this moment with all these young kids… everyone keeps saying thank you to me and us for being here, but really it's a big thanks to the Aussies for having us here.”

In another heart stopping performance from Australia on the opening night of the Tri-Nations Series, the men’s Aussie Sharks drew with Japan, 13-13. 

There was nothing separating the two men’s sides with the lead changing multiple times throughout each quarter. 

The Aussie Sharks debutants lead the charge for the home side tonight with Jacob Mercep delivering an impressive six goals, an absolute stand out for the team. Fellow debutants also got on the scoreboard with Sam Siobodien notching up three goals and Milos Maksimovic with one goal.

Australian Team Captain Blake Edwards said: “It was a little too close for my liking, but credit to the Japanese, they are extremely fast and their real strength is their counter attack.

“There were moments in the game where we probably needed to control it a little better in our offence.  But it’s all a learning experience for our young team. 

“We just don’t get enough of these games here [in Australia], so to have the turn out and support was amazing. 

“Our debutants played an amazing game and it gives us a lot of excitement and hope for the future particularly with some of our guns still overseas [playing] and unable to the team, we’re making the right steps forward and I just can’t wait to see what the road towards the Paris Olympics looks like for us,” he said. 

Japan Head Coach, Yoshinori Shiota said: “I expected that this game was going to be tough. We could have lost this game so I am happy to get the tie. 

“Today’s game we were missing three players, so hopefully next game with them back we can be better.

“Was really exciting to have so many kids here to watch, and we hope that they had fun too. We are all enjoying Australia, we are close to the beaches and it’s good weather,” he said.

All teams will return for the second round matches on Friday 13 January at HBF Stadium. 

GAME 2 I Friday 13 January 

6:00pm (AWST) - Aussie Sharks vs Japan 

7:30pm (AWST) - Aussie Stingers vs USA Women 

GAME 3 I Sunday 15 January 

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

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

GAME 1 RESULTS 

WOMEN I AUSTRALIA vs USA 

AUS 10 USA 10 

(AUS-USA): 2-2; 6-2; 2-3; 0-3

AUSTRALIA: 1 Genevieve Longman; 2 Pascalle Casey (1); 3 Elle Armit (3); 4 Danjiela Jackovich; 5 Bridget Leeson-Smith; 6 Jamie Oberman (2); 7 Jessica Emerson; 8 Sienna Hearn; 9 Zoe Arancini (3); 10 Maddy Steere (1); 11 Sofie Pontre; 12 Brooke McClean; 13 Lilian Hedges

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

MEN I AUSTRALIA vs JAPAN 

AUS 13 JPN 13 

(AUS-JPN): 3-2; 2-5; 4-3; 4-3

AUSTRALIA: 1 Damian Williams; 2 Keenan Marsden; 3 George Ford; 4 Milos Maksimovic (1); 5 Nathan Power (1); 6 Angus Lambie; 7 Matthew Byrnes(1); 8 Jacob Mercep (6); 9 Andrew Ford; 10 Marcus Berehulak; 11 Tristan Glanznig; 12 Blake Edwards (1); 13 Joey Parnis; 14 Sam Slobodien (3); 15 Nick Elphick

JAPAN: 1 TANAMURA Katsuyuki; 2 OKAWA Keigo (5); 3 ADACHI Seiya; 4 DATE Kiyomu (2); 5 NISHIMURA Towa; 6 NITTA Ikkei; 7 TSUTA Fumiya (2); 8 URA Itaru; 9 MAITA Yuki; 10 WATANABE Taiyo (1); 11 SASANO Ren (2); 12 YAMADA Nagi 91); 13 YAMAMOTO Masayuki; 14 OGIHARA Daichi