National Men’s Team Report –
“Good Luck Beijing" 2008 Water Polo China Open held at Ying Tung Natatorium.

The mid-season Easter break in the National League provided a window of opportunity to gather the domestic based Olympic squad members and some prospective future players together for some valuable international competition and training.

The ‘carrot’ for our participation in the “Good Luck” tournament was the opportunity to play in the newly renovated Ying Tung Natatorium, the venue for all water polo competition at the 2008 Olympics.

The players and management reaped the benefits of experiencing first- hand’ the  competition and training facilities that will be utilised throughout the Olympic tournament.

The national teams of China and Australia along with two regional Chinese teams (from Shanghai and Beijing) competed in the “good Luck” event. Unfortunately the withdrawal of Olympic qualified Montenegro and the Japanese team, meant that two inferior replacement teams had to be found for the 4 team tournament to go ahead, in what was designed as a full dress rehearsal for the Olympic Games.

Whilst the level of competition was not of the high standard that one would experience at a senior international level, we were able to scrimmage every other day against the Chinese team as well as undertaking an intense week of physical conditioning. These scrimmages provided for the ongoing experimentation of tactics and strategies (as identified in February), and for the players to adapt their games to fulfil specific roles within the team.

In addition I was also able to assess the performances of some of the ‘new’ additions to the squad and provide feedback on where they are at and area they need to work upon to be considered for senior international water polo selection in the future.

The players undertook a rigorous training schedule completing 8 pool sessions, (which included 3x1hr scrimmages against the Chinese), 3 official games and 3 weights sessions in the space of 6 days. As would be expected after such an intense regime, the players were quite fatigued by the week’s end, however, we still managed to win the 
tournament with a fighting 11-6 victory over China in the final game in front of a capacity crowd of about 3000 people. I have attached the game report from the final game at the end of this report. The players were afforded one rest day at the end of the tournament to sightsee and shop before heading back to Australia to resume national league duties.

I believe the short tour was beneficial from a number of viewpoints. Those players and staff who will be fortunate enough to return to Beijing for the Olympics will definitely be ‘better off’ for the experience of having seen, trained and played in the Olympic facilities. We were also able to gain valuable understanding of how things will operate during the Olympics and some of the ‘administrative hoops’ we will need to jump through with regards to organising training times, facilities and access to other venues.

The players' attitude and demeanour throughout the week was commendable, especially when they were having to deal with difficulties associated with travel to venues and short ‘turn-arounds’ with regards to training times and competition. Certainly not all of the difficulties we encountered were confined to frustrations over travel, venues and 
training times. The tour got off to an adverse start when we were delayed in Sydney for 6 hours due to a baggage handlers' snap strike. 

Instead of arriving in Beijing at our scheduled 8pm, we were delayed until 2am and did not arrive at the hotel until after 3.30am. This meant a very short ‘rest’ before our first training session the next morning. To add to this, the only European based national squad member to make the trip to Beijing, Johnno Cotterill who replaced Mitch 
Ainsworth due to work unavailability, had his baggage lost somewhere between Dubai and China. For the week he had to rely on borrowed team gear and assistance from his fellow players for clothes; although no-one could assist with the replacement of disposable contact lenses which he knows now NOT to pack in his suitcase! His bag did eventually 
arrive, on the day we departed, one day after the completion of competition!

As mentioned earlier there were a number of 1st time senior players who were given an opportunity to ‘mix it’ with the current Olympic squad members and to experience playing senior men’s international competition. This included Steven Cody, Danny Lawrence and Billy Miller. All three players handle themselves adequately and worked hard 
to adopt the values and understand the systems the senior team is undertaking.

We identified a few key performance goals for this tour. These included:
    •    The continuing improvement and understanding of how to play a transitional shifting defence (press into zone and vice versa);
    •    Improvement of extra man percentages in both attack and defence;
    •    Shot selections, decisions and execution especially when under pressure.

Obviously there were other aspects of our game which maintained a strong focus such as our ability to counter attack and defend.

Throughout the course of the week the Chinese identified that we were blooding a few younger, less-experienced players and they clearly targeted them with a heavy press in defence and played a more physical game in attack (which is uncharacteristic for them as they usually rely on quick movement and driving!).

This tactic proved a little unsettling for some of our players on occasions and we certainly struggled to get our free flowing counter-attack game into gear. On the flip side however it meant that we had more of a reliance on a set 
balanced attack and had to work for the centre-forwards. In the role of CF, Gavin Woods was outstanding scoring 4/9 goals from this position and gaining 5-6 ejections/game. Jamie Beadsworth ably assisted with 2/6 from the CF position.

The heavy press played by the Chinese meant that we gained plenty of extra-man situations, through driving as well as from CF, and were able to put into play a number of our attacking systems. Our extra-man attack was a satisfactory 11/17- which equates to around 60%. In defence we conceded 2/7 goals, so we were clearly on the positive side of the ledger as far as scoring percentages went, although we must take into account the quality of the opposition in these games!

An aspect of our game that I have been highly critical of in the past 8 months has been our shooting selection and execution of such. I want the players to be more accountable for the shots they take and as a consequence not so wasteful. The point has been stressed that any shots outside the frame are wasted and an analysis of the statistics 
of the past few years of major competitions proves that we are one of the most wasteful teams in the world. In accordance with this performance goals, all training sessions were completed with an increased awareness of the consequences of ‘wasting’ shots. This proved successful in the short term with our shooting percentages in 
the tournament improving to just below 49% (49/100) which is comparable to the best ranked teams in the world. In comparison the opposition shot at 24% in all games against us. With a continued focus on this hopefully we can carry on this level of conversion into future competitions.

There was a spread of good contributors across the week, apart from those already named. Luke Quinlivan was the pick of the goalkeepers in the tournament, conceding only 6 goals in 3 halves of w-polo. Each goalkeeper (Laurie Trettel and Luke) played ½ game each for each of the 3 games.

The goal scoring was very evenly distributed across a number of players. Grant Richardson, Johnno Cotterill and Gavin Woods scored 7 goals apiece, with Rhys Howden and Anthony Martin chiming in with 6. Trent Franklin displayed good leadership in Thomas Whalan’s absence, both in and out of the water.

The quantity and quality of training was certainly a step-up from what the players normally undergo at home, and in some cases the lack of intense match conditioning was evident in players. Fatigue-related mistakes, which included poor skill execution and bad decisions under pressure, became apparent in some players as the week progressed. 
Hopefully these players will comprehend the degree of fitness and conditioning they require to compete effectively at the international elite level and respond in training and games accordingly.

The next major event on the calendar for the men’s team is the national league finals after which I will be looking to trim the squad from the current 20 players down to 16-17. This squad, including those players who will have then returned from Europe, will prepare for a camp in Sydney and short tour to Japan to contest the preliminaries of 
the world league in late May. This is then followed with a return to Europe for further training and the World League finals which will be the subject of my next report.


Match report final game:
BEIJING, March 23) -- On March 23, in the men's final round of the 
"Good Luck Beijing" 2008 Water Polo China Open held at Ying Tung 
Natatorium, Australia beat host China 12-7 to claim the men's title. 
The results of the four quarters were 4-1, 0-1, 4-3 and 4-2.
The Australian team opened the match with fierce attacks, as No. 10 
Gavin Woods scored on a short shot in the second minute. Following 
that, the guest team sent as many as six substitutes to play the rest 
of the game, an indication of the team's great self-confidence. In 
another two or three minutes, No. 6 Anthony Martin and No. 5 Grant 
Richardson made one each for a 3-0 lead. In the last minute, China got 
a penalty throw but Wang Beiming's shot was blocked by Australia's 
goalkeeper. Gavin Woods then scored again on a fast break, and it was 
only in the last 30 seconds that Yu Lijun opened the score for China 
while the team enjoyed a numerical advantage against their opponents.
Han Zhidong's long shot helped China improve the deficit to 2-4 after 
the second quarter.
The third quarter saw China missing a very good chance for scoring as 
Yu Lijun's shot hit the crossbar. Australian Jamie Beadsworth and 
Chinese Han Zhidong shot in turn and the score stood 5-3. With a drop 
shot Stephen Cody soon extended the Australian lead to 6-3. Two 
minutes later, China's Xie Junmin succeeded in scoring on a direct 
shot from a teammate's pass. In the remaining time, Australia's Daniel 
Lawrence and China's Han Zhidong added one long shot each before 
Lawrence's teammate, Rhys Howden, finished the quarter with another 
fast break, 8-5.
In the final quarter the Australians broke the Chinese goal time and 
again, while China's Wang Beiming and Tan Feihu also made two. After a 
3-2 run, Australia's Timothy Needsham counterattacked to further 
extended their lead to 12-7 before the final whistle, thus helping the 
guest team grab the men's title of the 2008 China Open.