Monday Wrap | Rnd 6 OVO Australian Waterpolo League

Round six of the OVO Mobile Australian Waterpolo League has wrapped up coinciding with the competition’s halfway point.

The round six OVO Play live stream match was an intriguing Saturday night encounter between Queensland Breakers and ACU Cronulla Sharks from Brisbane.

After taking Thursday night’s match against the Queensland Breakers, the ACU Cronulla Sharks women’s team was wary of what a young Breakers team had in store for them in the rematch.

As the teams returned to the pool for the second half, Sharks held a slim 6-5 advantage.

Queensland Breakers assistant coach, Amanda Leeson-Smith was encouraging her players to keep trying.

“We’re going to work on converting a few more opportunities and moving in to space in attack before they get the ball.

Leeson-Smith was quick to single out Ashleigh Roberts as a Breakers first half standout.

“I think because she is so skilful she doesn’t often get the major fouls that she probably deserves, she never gives up, she’s a great girl to play with and is always positive.”

In a spectacular finish to the match with scores tied at 8 all and 30 seconds on the clock, Sharks centre forward Brooke McClean was able to draw a major foul resulting in a 5m penalty.

Sharks lethal left hander Kiara Holden stepped up and made no mistake with a bounce shot to break the deadlock and seal her side an important 9-8 victory.

Brooke McClean and her teammates were excited with the win post-match.

“We always knew Breakers were going to be really hard, they’ve got Bronwen [Knox], Ash [Roberts] and Alice [Williams], so they’ve got a very good team.

“We were a bit nervous going into it, we knew we only just got the win on Thursday night, but it was really exciting coming out with the win tonight,” said McClean.

In the second OVO Play live stream match it was the men’s teams lighting up Valley Pool with Anthony Martin returning to bolster Queensland Breakers and provide much needed experience to the team.

Martin’s presence was felt almost immediately with two goals from him in the first quarter.

Holding a 5-3 advanatge at halftime, Shark’s head coach Predag Mihailovic spoke about the importance of Joe Kayes to his team.

“Our boys get more confident when they see him around,” he said.

Kayes and fellow double goal scorers Ugljesa Mihailovic, Nick Brooks and Japanese import Atsudo Iida closed out the game for the Sharks, 10-7.

It was an improved performance from the Breakers after Thursday night’s 15-5 loss against the Sharks.

Breakers continue to learn and improve which is what experienced player Anthony Martin touched on after the game.

“We’ve got a really young team and each game they’re improving and Dmirty [Gorshkov] is giving them good direction and tactics.

“It’s a steep learning curve playing Australian Waterpolo League against guys who are much bigger and stronger than you.

“As long as we keep playing and learning we will grow throughout the season and then into next year as well,” he said.

The Sharks men’s comprehensive 19-8 victory last night over the Brisbane Barracudas rounded out a highly successful trip north for the Sharks with the club returning home eight wins from eight matches.

PERTH

FYFE Adelaide Jets headed west to face off against UWA Torpedoes and Fremantle, both renowned for being remarkably tough at home.

After four days of matches, the Jets were valiant but could not overcome the Torpedoes and Fremantle teams for victory.

The match of the road trip was Thursday’s penalty shootout thriller between the Jets and Torpedoes men.

Locked up at 5 all at the end of ordinary time, a penalty shootout could not split the teams and after 3 goals were scored by both teams in the shoot out, they had to split the points after an 8 all draw.

Fremantle Marlins captain Erin Redbond was a standout over the weekend amassing 10 goals in both her matches.

Redbond netted three goals in the Marlins 10-1 victory on Friday and backed this performance up with seven goals in yesterday’s 16-5 Marlins victory.

SYDNEY

Hunter Hurricanes were in Sydney to square off against UTS Balmain Tigers and Drummoyne Devils.

Daniel Lawrence proved to be a match winner for the Hunter Hurricane’s in their impressive 11-8 victory over Devils due to his crucial four goal haul, three of them coming in the last quarter.

Hurricanes would be relatively pleased with their efforts over the weekend with the club only dropping one game from four matches in the Hurricanes versus Devils Thursday night match.

Both Hurricanes teams were impressive in hard fought matches and finding a way to win.

In a clash between two competition heavyweights UNSW Wests hosted the Sydney University Lions.

In the women’s match, defending AWL champions, Lions were unable to match it with the Killer Whales who ran over the top of their opponents and won 8-5.

The Killer Whales male counterparts and men’s defending champions, Magpies were blown away by a strong Lions outfit, 12-6.

After reaching the halfway point, which teams will be better at fixing their early seasons cobwebs and finish with momentum?

For full results from round six please click here.