DEFENDING champions Hunter made a strong opening- day State CHS Boys’ water polo championship statement, as did Sydney East as one of the challengers, when the 2014 carnival got underway at Scully Park yesterday.
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The two contested last year’s final and are again looming as two of the favourites, along with Sydney North.
They were undefeated for the day, with Sydney East notching three wins.
After a first-up 8-5 win over Riverina, they thrashed Sydney South West 13-nil, before finishing off with a 7-5 win over Sydney West.
It was a good start.
“We probably didn’t play the strongest sides today but we played a couple of good sides,” manager Neil Myers said.
The litmus test will come today when they face both Sydney North and Hunter.
Myers only came in late to look after the side and was impressed by a number of aspects of their play.
“Their defence has been very organised,” he said.
“They know what they’re doing and they’ve taken goals when they were on offer.”
“And some of our attacking play drills they pulled off and scored off.”
That’s always pleasing to see.
Around half of the side is from Kirrawee which has been a real force in school water polo in recent years.
Hunter was impressive in its two games opening the carnival, with an 8-2 win over Sydney West and then accounting for North Coast 13-2.
Sydney North beat North Coast 6-2 and then hosts North West 10-2.
“They were too strong and too experienced,” North West manager Sharon Grellman said.
“Five of our players don’t play water polo regularly on a Friday night.”
In contrast, some of their Sydney counterparts would be playing a couple of times a week.
One of the highlights for North West was a beautiful lob shot from Isaac Moxon for their first goal.
Grellman also commented on some of their defensive work.
“We were able to switch our defence to their style of play,” she said.
“That probably minimised the score.”
Overall, there were some positive signs from the first day.
It started well with an 8-4 win over Sydney South West.
They led 3-nil at the first break and then 4-1 at half-time.
“We scored some good goals off strong counter-attack,” Grellman said.
Harrison Clinch and Jackson Sharpe shared top-scoring billing.
At the other end of the pool, keeper Lachlan Wheeler had a “great game”, and picked up the three points.
Results: Hunter 8 d Sydney West 2, Sydney North 6 d North Coast 4, Sydney East 8 d Riverina 5, North West 8 d Sydney South West 4, Hunter 13 d North Coast 2, Sydney West 9 d Riverina 6, Sydney East 13 d Sydney South West 0, Sydney North 10 d North West 2, Sydney East 7 d Sydney West 5.
