Waterworks
Northerners clean up all competition in the pool

A player from the combined South Queensland, NSW team looks for an opening during the women’s event at the ADF Waterpolo Championships. Photo by Bill Cunneen, Army newspaper

By Pte Luke Knights

BOTH Men’s and Women’s teams from North Queensland and NT proved too tough to beat at the ADF Water-polo Association Annual Championships, held at Randwick Barracks recently.

Army, Navy and Air Force combined to form state teams representing NSW/ACT, S-Qld, N-Qld and NT.

In the women’s final NSW/ACT formed a combined team with S-Qld to take on the combined NT/N-Qld team, with NT/N-Qld eventually defeating the NSW/S-Qld team 7-6.

ADF Waterpolo vice president Capt Catherine Crane, who also played for NT/N-Qld, said both teams had been very strong this year and were fairly evenly matched. NT/N-Qld just managed to get ahead in the final quarter and hold on for the win.

The N-Qld men’s team of only seven players was undefeated during the championship this year, defeating S-Qld 15-7 in the men’s final.

Captain/coach for N-Qld Capt Scott Davis said the final was a tough game and N-Qld had pushed hard in every quarter, eventually breaking down S-Qld’s game play and scoring some easy goals.

Both Capt Crane and Capt Davis have been selected, along with a number of other players from the championships, to represent the ADF at the Arafura games, to be held in Darwin in May next year.