How old were you when you started playing water polo and what club did you play for?   
I started playing water polo when I was 15 years old for Melbourne Collegians Water Polo Club.

What’s your highlight to date in water polo?
A great highlight was winning the World League Bronze Medal, last year in Berlin.

What’s your typical week like as a professional in Croatia?
We normally train twice a day during the week with Wednesday nights off and play most official games Saturday evenings. Saturday morning is usually a light session with some swimming, a few sprints and some shots at goal to loosen up before the game. During the week morning training sessions are normally from 10 a.m. to Midday or an hour longer if we do a gym session before the pool. In the evenings we often analyse videos of our games or opponents. In the water we either scrimmage against another club team or work on our Extra Man offensive and defensive plays.

How do you find the language barrier? Are you learning the local lingo?
Quite a lot of the younger people here speak English to varying degrees. My Coach and assistant coaches all speak English which makes life easy and is not the case in other clubs. Even though I do not really need to, I am learning Croatian via a text book and from speaking with friends… It really helps in forming relationships with the team and being part of the community to show that you are interested and are taking the time to learn to communicate in their preferred language. Split and the Dalmatian coastal population speak a separate dialect to that of Zagreb and Continental Croatia. It's fun to learn the peculiarities between the two.

What do you do in your down time in Croatia?
In-between training sessions and on weekends I go out with friends to walk around town, the new shopping centre or through the fortified old city; Diocletian's Palace which was built in 300AD… Drinking coffee and people watching is also a popular past time here in Split. Alongside studying Croatian I’m also continuing my professional development in architecture.

How many years have you been playing as a professional in Europe?
This is my fourth season playing professionally in Europe. I have played a season in the Greek League and two in the Spanish League.

You play in the league that has produced some of the best players in the world and are the current world champs. Do you feel this has been a good venture for your water polo?
Yes, it has been a great venture for my water polo. The first division of the Croatian League is concentrated into 8 teams which keeps the league and its players at a high standard. There is a strong history of successful players and teams in Croatia and especially in Split. Water polo is a prominent part of the popular culture here and everyday people are familiar with the results and personalities of the game. There is a strong quantity and depth of water polo knowledge here which is passed on and developed through the generations. There are 10 year olds training seriously here and 70 year olds running around coaching them!
The Croatian `school` of water polo has a focus on the Centre Forward and Centre Back positions in its style of play. I have been able to learn some effective techniques and strategies in these positions to expand my performance in those positions.
The war in this country 15 years ago obviously still shapes the existence here and is an element which has shaped my general perspective. See the attached photo of the façade of the Split’s local municipal swimming pool scarred with bullet holes.

You recently toured with the AUSSIE SHARKS to Athens, Hungary and Romania. What were your highlights and lowlights of this tour?
During the tour the low light for me was catching the flu and not being able to play as much and at the level or intensity I would have liked. The highlights I enjoyed were scrimmaging against the Greek National team and the playing the official game against the skilful Hungarians.

What would your words of inspiration be to up and coming juniors here in Aus?
Playing water polo both professionally and in the Australian team each offer amazing experiences. Being in the competitive environment of sport is an enjoyable and rich learning environment. The experiences shared with team mates in and out of the water create profound relationships and deep-rooted friendships that are not developed in other spheres of our society.
I feel very fortunate travelling and encountering different cultures while playing water polo. I have found that living in another country is very different than just visiting one as a tourist.

Who would you rate as the,” best player you have ever played against/with?”   
Peter Biros (HUN) is one of the strongest all round players that I have played against.

How long do you see yourself playing water polo for as a career?   
In the future I see myself continuing playing overseas or in the Australian leagues combined with working as an Architect.

Who was your inspiration to achieving so much in Water polo so far?   
My mother who also played water polo, has been an enormous inspiration as too have my coaches Rob Edwards, Istvan Gorgenyi and Jeff Barrow.