Three down at the last break, the Jets were staring at a heavy defeat when Brisbane Matt Giles made it 9-5 a minute into the final period.

However, four home goals, including the last from Nicholas Martin 37 seconds from the final siren, clinched an unexpected draw.

It was a game where the goalkeepers dominated and the first periods were drawn 2-2 and 1-1.
Adelaide’s cage man Marshall Morley, a former junior international, was adjudged best and fairest for the match.

Earlier, the champion Barracudas women completed a four-game sweep of the southern States with a 14-9 victory over the Jets with Aussie Stingers captain Mel Rippon top-scoring with four goals.

Drummoyne Devils posted two 14-10 results over Sealevel Cronulla Sharks in Sydney.

The women’s game saw Beijing Olympic bronze medallist Nikita Cuffe return to play with a five-goal haul while United States international Lauren Silver collected four.

Responding for the Sharks were international Nicola Zagame with five and Dutch Olympic champion Mieke Cabout with three. Zagame has now scored 11 goals in two matches.

In the men’s encounter, junior international Aidan Roach (Drummoyne) and Rydr Tracy (Cronulla) netted five each.

UWA Torpedoes’ dismal start to the season continued with losses to the UNSW outfits. The men lost 12-5 to UNSW Wests Magpies while the women went down 8-5 to UNSW Killer Whales.

The Torpedoes men lost six straight on the hardest road trip and the women drew with Hunter Hurricanes and lost the next five.

Rusty Jets fall to Brisbane Barracudas
Adelaide (February 7).—
A four-goal deficit in the season’s first quarter proved fatal for Fyfe Adelaide Jets men against Brisbane Barracudas in Adelaide last night.

Adelaide’s season opening loss could be put down to poor conversion of the extra-man attack with six failed attempts as Brisbane slipped out to a healthy lead and on to a 14-8 victory.

The goals started coming in the second quarter from the first attack and from then on the game was relatively even.

Matthew Martin scored four of Adelaide’s goals but Brisbane had seven scorers with Olympian Rhys Howden, Dan Young and Matt Giles scoring three each.

The Barracudas women racked up a similar score with a 13-8 success, also built on an excellent start — 4-1.

Three of those goals came from last year’s AWPI Player with a Disability, the hearing-impaired Jamie-Lee Lewis, daughter of rugby league great Wally Lewis.

Adelaide drew to within 9-6 in the third period but allowed the Barracudas to score five goals in the quarter.

In Sydney, Sydney University Lions and Cronulla Sharks split their games with dual Olympian Trent Franklin scoring four goals as his Sydney University team moved from 7-2 at halftime to a 16-4 finish.

Cronulla women met little resistance from the Lions until the final period, winning 17-6 after being 13-2 up at the final break.

Much of the damage was done by world championship player Nicola Zagame, who scored six goals, carrying on from where she left off last season as the league’s top scorer.

Backing up with four goals was Olympic champion Mieke Cabout of the Netherlands, who was making her debut in the NWPL.

Balmain Tigers won both games at home in torrential rain at the Dawn Fraser Pool.

Local league games scheduled for the pool were cancelled but the NWPL games went ahead with the men holding off a charging UWA Torpedoes for a 7-6 win and the Balmain women slaughtering Torpedoes 25-5.

Triple Olympian Gavin Woods scored to go-away goal for 7-5 with two minutes remaining but Brad Mercer responded and Torpedoes gained an extra-man play with 17 seconds remaining but could not convert the equaliser.

Balmain-UWA pix

Gavin steps up for Vic Tigers in second NWPL victory
Sydney (February  6).—
Former international Luke Gavin stepped up for the Victorian Tigers in their 10-5 National Water Polo League victory at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre last night.

Gavin drilled four goals for the home side, including two in the final quarter after the Barracudas had brought the game to within two goals.

It was the second successive win for the Tigers over the Barracudas for last year’s minor premiers.

The champion Barracudas women had a harder match against the Tigers, winning 9-6 against a team that is without No 1 strike force Rowie Webster.

Although the Barracudas led 7-3 at the final break and with a 5-1 second quarter, the Tigers struck back in the last period with United States Import Julia Fancher scoring twice.

The night before the Tigers were in foul trouble and lost 14-5.

In Sydney, UNSW Killer Whales needed a goal in the final 12 seconds to shut out Perth’s UWA Torpedoes 7-6.

Ali Gronow scored the winner on action with the team’s third straight goal in three and-a-half minutes after the Torpedoes had controlled the whole match until the goals dried up.

The Killer Whales were without their two United States college imports whose clearance to play had not been ratified.

UNSW Wests Magpies were untroubled in a lacklustre 16-7 victory over UWA Torpedoes.

National junior representative left-hander Wade Eames top-scored with five goals for the winners.

Olympian McGregor fine score for Vic Tigers
Melbourne (February 5).— 
The shift of Aussie Shark Sam McGregor (pictured shooting) from his New South Wales base to Victorian Tigers proved a hit in the National Water Polo at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre last night.

The dual Olympian, who has played with Sydney University Lions in the past, scored three goals for his new club as it won 10-4 over Brisbane Barracudas.

McGregor was quick off the mark, scoring his hat-trick in the opening quarter for a 4-0 lead while his illustrious team-mate, United States Olympic silver medallist Brian Alexander (pictured below right), was restricted to a lone goal in the final period.

The champion Barracudas women had no trouble with the Tigers, winning 14-5.

The Tigers were without international star Rowena Webster and lost Jade Hanson and Emma Jo Grahame to three major fouls before halftime, denting any viable firepower for the rest of the match.

In Sydney, Balmain Tigers had good opening starts to their campaigns with the men breaking an 11-all deadlock against UWA Torpedoes in the final two minutes to win 13-11 and the women crushing the weakened Torpedoes 17-1.

Sydney Olympic gold medallist Bronwyn Smith netted four times for the victors.

Joel Davis (Balmain) and Sasha Kovalenko (UWA) scored five goals each in the men’s encounter.

Credit www.pearsephotography.com.au 

Hunter makes no mistake in return match with UWA
Newcastle (February 4).—
Hunter Hurricanes did not make the same mistake two nights running when beating UWA Torpedoes 6-4 in a women’s National Water Polo League match at Lambton Pool last night.

After leading by three goals the previous night, Hunter gave up a draw to the Torpedoes but last night Hunter held its nerve to convert a 5-3 three-quarter-time lead into a 6-4 victory thanks to an Anna Gonzalez goal inside the final two minutes.

The Torpedoes led 1-0 at the first break with Hunter gaining a 2-1 lead at the buzzer of halftime with a hopeful shot from Elly Goodwin.

The Torpedoes women are travelling with three goalkeepers in their eight-person squad as injuries, illness and a school ball decimated the squad.

Infilling last night on the scoresheet was 52-year-old assistant coach/manager Fiona Pixley (pictured in green cap, thanks to referee Noel Harrod), who coaches Triton in the Perth SunSmart Premier League.

Pixley was needed in the last two minutes whenjunior international Eleisha Browne was ejected for her third major foul, leaving two leading players on the bench.

Pixley then played alongside her daughter, Katie Smith. 

She beats by three years the previous oldest competitor in the NWPL — Brisbane Barracudas Phil Howden, who played alongside Olympian son Rhys some years ago. 

Hunter men went two in a row over the Torpedoes with a 15-7 victory.

As with the previous night, both teams spread around the scoring in what was a heated game with both head coaches gaining yellow cards by halftime.

Hunter led 5-0 at the first break and only 6-4 at halftime before pulling away to 11-5 after three periods.

Drummoyne looking for big season in NWPL
Sydney (February 3).—
The Drummoyne Devils are looking forward to continuing their good form as 2010 National Water Polo League season gets underway this week.

The Drummoyne Devils play their season opener against the Cronulla Sharks with the men opening the proceedings at Drummoyne pool at 6.15pm. The Drummoyne Devils women's team, which finished fifth in its inaugural season, plays the Cronulla Sharks at 7.45pm.
 
The Devils have attracted some experienced campaigners for the 2010 season headed by Olympic centre forward Nikita Cuffe who will be a huge asset.

“Nikita completely changes the dynamics of the young Drummoyne team. She adds undeniable ability, Invaluable experience and the all important leadership factor in, and out of the water. Nikita’s presence makes all our team into better players just by her presence,” says club president Michael Hahn.

"The Devils line-up has also been boosted by US senior national team members Lauren Silver and Melissa Wheeler and Australian representatives Lisa Callahan who recently moved to Sydney and Sasha Cuffe are joined by Australian junior Natalee McJannet.

“All the girls joined the Devils pre -eason camp in Brisbane and have settled in well they all have a lot of experience and are going to be a great addition to the team.”

Over and above Drummoyne has plenty of talented juniors who won the NSW Under 20 tournament last weekend and will be better from the experience of playing NWPL in the Drummoyne Devils' inaugural season.

"We have some great juniors including Dani White and Devon Boyle who were recently added to the Australian junior girls' squad and Serena Reid in goals is an exceptionally talented goalkeeper."
 
The Drummoyne Devils men, who finished runners-up in 2009, have been preparing well for the 2010 season.

The Devils hope to continue the early season form that included wins in the Sydney 1st Grade Premiership and NSW Under 20 title for the young line-up.

There is still plenty of experience with Olympians Sean Boyd and Dean Semmens looking forward to another season. The Devils will be led by 2009 MVP Samuele Avallone who is playing his third season with Drummoyne and goalkeeper John Hahn returns from a season in the USA.

The Drummoyne players' development has been led by coach Dalibor Maslan, who was recently appointed Head Coach at the VIS, and a core group of juniors including Aidan Roach, Tyler Martin and Mitchell Emery plus young left-hander Adam Polivka who made his senior debut against Canada and Vasas.
 
Get along to Drummoyne pool this Sunday for the season opener and throw your support behind the Drummoyne Devils.

The former UWA Comets outfit, battling illness, injuries and defections because of a school ball, started their six-game road trip with an inglorious start but a 3-0 third period gave it parity at six by the final break.

Hunter’s Jenny Hoade gave Hunter the lead but two minutes later Cathryn Earl levelled for the Torpedoes.

The Torpedoes men were not so lucky, trailing 6-2 at halftime and then dropping the third by an unfathomable 7-2 before winning the last quarter 4-0 in their 13-8 defeat.

The teams repeat their contest tonight before Torpedoes head to Sydney.

Dutch Olympic champion headlines NWPL season
Newcastle (February 1).—
Dutch Beijing Olympic champion Mieke Cabout headlines the foreign invasion of the 2010 National Water Polo League, which starts in Newcastle tomorrow night.

Cabout is the first Dutch woman to contest the league, playing for Sealevel Cronulla Sharks, and heads a list of 17 women and 19 men from outside Australia.

The men’s complement is topped by United States of America Olympic silver medallist Brian Alexander, who will front for Victorian Tigers.

Cuban international Luis Crus becomes the first from his country to play in the 20-year history of the men’s NWPL when he shows up for Sydney University Lions.

The men’s league also includes an influx of eight players from 2012 London Olympic Games host Great Britain, spread over five clubs.

Other countries represented are Italy, New Zealand, Hungary and Canada.

Hunter Hurricanes host UWA Torpedoes from Perth in the opening games tomorrow and Wednesday nights with the youthful Torpedoes women crippled by injury, illness and defections because of a school ball.

Reigning champion Fremantle Mariners men begin their campaign next week at home while the champion Brisbane Barracudas women host Victorian Tigers on Thursday and Friday.