Water Polo: Tamworth women finish third at Country Club Championships

After breaking through for Tamworth’s first medal at the championships for a long time last year, the Ross White-coached side accounted for Raymond Terrace 11-3 in their play-off to secure back-to back bronze medals.

White expressed some disappointment at finishing third but it wasn’t a reflection on his sides performance. 

Rather it stemmed from a belief that they could have been playing off for the gold. 

They had a narrow loss and a draw against the two teams that contested the final, and went down by only two goals in their semi-final.

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“I’m very impressed with the way the girls are playing,” he said.

“They played very well as a team and really are competitive against the bigger teams.”

His only complaint was that they weren’t able to close out games against the better sides.

They’d do “something silly”, which would lead to a turnover and often a goal.

“Just things like that we’ve got to learn to control,” he said.

The team featured a mix of more experienced and young players with the likes of Mikayla Gross, Lucy Hofman and Lara Taggart stepping up to open’s competition and acquitting themselves well.

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Taggart impressed in goals and was named in the Tournament 7 along with captain Libby Magann.

“Lara had an outstanding tournament making vital saves in the close games,” Magann said.

Doubling up on the sidelines, Laura Hill was also awarded one of five outstanding club referee awards for her refereeing efforts. The Karratha (Western Australia), native has recently made Tamworth her home.

The next assignment for the side is the Country District Championships in Woy Woy next month.

Nick Murphy, Troy Gross, Lachlan Wheeler, Ned Hoath and Mark Simon meanwhile formed a composite side with Far North Coast in the men’s competition.

They finished sixth after going down to Easts by one goal.

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