Water polo Sharks hungry for World Cup podium finish

 After the narrowest of misses and battered by injury, Australia's water polo squad is training hard in the northern summer for  next week's World Cup.  Despite the problems, the Sharks have their eyes set firmly on a podium finish.

By LUKE MORTIMER

The Australian men’s water polo squad is in Herceg Novi, Montenegro, getting crucial  international match practice in preparation for the World Cup in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The Sharks are in Herceg Novi for a 10-day joint training camp with the Montenegrin national side ahead of the World Cup, which starts on August 19, Sharks assistant coach Chris Wybrow said.

“The hardest thing for Australia to do is to have international competition,” Wybrow said before leaving Australia.

“The big problem we have is we haven’t played international games since the World League finals, and yet the Europeans have had their European championships just completed on the weekend.

“You can do the swimming, you can do weights, you can do all the training drills in the pool, but it’s not the same as actually playing games,” he said.

He said the Sharks were determined to finish on the podium in Almaty despite an avalanche of injuries – which has seen players Billy Miller and Joel Swift, and captain Rhys Howden left behind.

Australia narrowly lost the bronze-medal play-off against Montenegro in the men's World League competition in June.

“Coming fourth in the World League without two of those guys [Howden and Swift] was an indication of what we can do,” Wybrow said.

“It gives a good chance for some of the younger boys, to blood them in for future tours when the other players come back.”

Melbourne’s Blake Edwards and younger brother Lachlan are among the next generation who will replace the embattled senior players.

“It opens up opportunities for guys like myself [and] Lachy, it’s been a real big opportunity for him,” Blake Edwards said.

“We’ve had good results without these players, so there’s good depth in the country at the moment. Our main goal now is we want to be a podium in most tournaments we are playing in.

“We’re still sitting below that stage where we’re not winning medals, but we see that changing very soon.

“It’s the major competition for the year for us, so we’ll be going over there trying to do as well as we can,” he said.

Blake Edwards has caught the eye of Australian selectors since he returned from a season in the Hungarian national league last year to help the Victorian Seals National Water Polo League side to a second-place finish last season.

“I’ve been really fortunate to be back in the squad and I just want to take in each tournament as it comes and take in opportunities when they’re presented,” Edwards said.

“I was away last season playing in Montenegro and I was a bit out of sight, out of mind.

“With the Victorian Seals this year we had a very good season finishing second, and I guess I was just identified through that season that I was a valued member in the squad.

“The team had a good performance which is always going to help us [Blake and Lachlan] as individuals, and it opened up the opportunity for us both to play in the national side together.”

The 22-year-old was first included in the national squad as a 17-year-old, but has been absent until his inclusion in January this year. He will now push for a permanent position in the Sharks side, with the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro passing the two-year count down last month.

“Whatever team is picked at the moment, everyone in the team is a potential for Rio,” Edwards said.

“It’s very important for us, this World Cup, but obviously ultimately it’s more about the World Championships [next year] and Olympics.”

Lachlan Edwards is set to make a final cut when the 15-man squad is reduced to the 13-man team who will wear the Australian caps in Almaty, as he replaces Swift in the key centre-forward position.

The 19-year-old, who stands at 198cm and weighs 110kg, hopes to impress Australian head coach Elvis Fatovic – who took on the top job after Australia’s disappointing seventh-position finish in London, 2012 – before he departs for the US to play for the University of Southern California (USC).

“I was thinking about Europe but got an offer from them [USC], and it’s a good experience and good education, so I thought I’d take up that offer,” Lachlan said.

“I’ll be coming back for training and hopefully I’ll keep improving over there playing in the college system.”

Lachlan follows a similar path to other Australian players who have cashed in their talent abroad, including James Clark, AJ Roach, Joel Swift and Tyler Martin, who’ve committed to Hungarian clubs; Aaron Younger, who will sign with a Croatian club; and Gordon Martial, who also represents a US college side.

Wybrow said Australian players were encouraged to sign with overseas clubs, but national duty takes precedence.

“The more players that we can get overseas, they can, one, play good competition against some of the best players in the world, but also to have good training on a regular basis at a reasonable time so they can get their rest.

“We have arrangements with the club so that they are free to play for national duties. That’s the main thing when they sign a contract.”

He said the Australian water polo side was strong on the world stage despite a limited following at home because “we’ve always had a very good swimming background”.

“We’re a tough water polo nation, and so we don’t back down and we’re quite aggressive and tough, and so I think that’s probably our forte,” he said.

“Now we’ve got guys playing overseas, they’re getting crucial experience against some of the best players in the world.”