M2007 Coach's Corner
WOMEN - 31 March 07
Australia 5 - USA 6
Australia - 5: Kate Gynther (2), Nikita Cuffe, Bronwen Knox, Mel Rippon (1)
United States Of America - 6: Lauren Wenger (3), Brenda Villa (2), Moriah Van Norman (1)
Greg McFadden: There were shades of 2000 today, but unfortunately we couldn't get up at the end.
Overall a silver medal is a fantastic result, and whilst we lost today we will learn a lot from that and will now be even more determined for the Olympics next year.
We had plenty of opportunities but didn't capitalise on them which was a little disappointing.
The USA deserved their win, but our girls can be very proud of their effort.
Bring on Beijing!
WOMEN - 29 March 07
Australia 12 - Russia 9
Australia - 12: Kate Gynther (4), Gemma Beadsworth, Nikita Cuffe, Rebecca Rippon, Mel Rippon (2)
Russia - 9: Ekaterina Pantyulina (3), Sofya Konukh, Nadezda Glyzina (2), Elena Smurova Natalia Shepelina (1)
Greg McFadden: Tonight was a very good game which we started well before the Russians came back in the second and third quarter.
I thought that during the 3rd quarter could have gone either way but thank goodness it went our way!
I was especially impressed with our three older girls, Emma, Nikita and Bec who showed their years of experience and led our team in our comeback.
Now we are set to play the US in the gold medal match and we can't wait.
MEN - 28 March 07
Australia 15 - Romania 9
Australia - 15: Gavin Woods (4), Timothy Neesham, Trent Franklin (3), Thomas Whalan (2), Pietro Figlioli, Robert Maitland, Anthony Martin (1)
Romania - 9: Gheorghe Dunca (4), Cosmin Radu, Andrei Iosep, Andrei Busilja, George Georgescu, Alexandru Matei (1)
David Neesham: I was very proud of the guys tonight, and how professional they were given the nature of our loss on Monday night.
As the tournament has progressed we have got better with each game, it is just a shame we didn't start the way we are playing now.
There was a good even spread across the goal scorers reflecting the fact that everyone in the team played well tonight.
We are now focusing on playing the Americans and securing 9th position.
WOMEN - 27 March 07
Australia 12 - Italy 8
Australia - 12: Suzie Fraser, Taniele Gofers, Kate Gynther (2), Gemma Beadsworth, Nikita Cuffe, Rebecca Rippon, Gemma Hadley, Bronwen Knox, Melissa Rippon (1)
Italy - 8: Tania Di Mario (4), Silvia Bosurgi (2), Martina Miceli, Giulia Enrica Emmolo (1)
Greg McFadden: Tonight was a solid effort from our team and if we didn't miss a few opportunities we could have beaten Italy by another couple of goals.
There were no worries about the girls firing up for this match as the Italians are notoriously rough players, as showed by one of their girls biting Kate Gynther and opening up her arm.
We now have to focus on Russia who will be a tough opponent as they play a similar style of Water Polo to us but I am confident that if we play our best that we can do well.
MEN - 26 March 07
Italy 12 - Australia 11 in extra time
Australia - 11: Pietro Figlioli (3), Timothy Neesham, Sam McGregor, Gavin Woods (2), Johnno Cotterill, Jamie Beadsworth (1)
Italy - 12: Murizio Felugo, Fabio Bencivenga, Luigi di Contsanzo (3), Franceso Postiglione, Alex Giorgetti, Alessandra Calcaterra (1)
David Neesham: That is a pretty shattering way to get knocked out, and I think we deserved better than that this tournament.
It is a tragedy for the whole team and to lose in the last second of extra time is extremely disappointing. We fought really hard, and I was especially impressed by the guts we showed in extra time with our 3 defenders excluded.
It will be hard to back up again, but we need to re-group and focus finishing the World Championships on a winning note.
MEN - 24 March 07
Australia 12 - South Africa 6
Australia - 12: Trent Franklin (4), Rob Maitland (3), Thomas Whalan, Johnno Cotterill, Tim Neesham, Gavin Woods, Sam McGregor (1)
South Africa - 6: Ryan Bell (2), Etienne Le Roux, Kevin O'Brien, Adam Kajee, Donn Stewart (1)
David Neesham: Tonight was a good win against the South Africans.
We showed some good form at stages of the game, but once again we let ourselves down slightly during periods of the game - something we can't do in our next match against Italy.
It was good to see some of our players come into form, like Trent Franklin, and some of the younger guys such as Johnno Cotterill and Anthony Martin continue to gain invaluable experience.
If we can pull together our best attack and defence in the one game I am confident that we can take on Italy and the higher ranked teams, and look forward to the challenge.
WOMEN - 23 March 07
Australia 11 - Brazil 3
Australia - 11: Kate Gynther (4), Taniele Gofers (2), Gemma Beadsworth, Amy Hetzel, Nikita Cuffe, Rebecca Rippon, Suzie Fraser
Brazil - 3: Ana Ca Vasconcelos, Luiza Carvahlo, Flavia Fernandes
Greg McFadden: Tonight we got off to a great start and then hit a wall for a while as we struggled to score for nearly a quarter and a half.
In the final quarter we regained our composure and came out with a good win, so we now have four days off until our quarter final on Tuesday night.
We will have a rest tomorrow and then get back into training on Sunday and look at having a training game against another country to keep us on our toes, whilst all the other teams are playing their knock out games.
MEN - 22 March 07
Croatia10 - Australia 9
Australia - 9: Pietro Figlioli (4), Gavin Woods (4), Robert Maitland (1)
Croatia - 10: Miro Boscovic (4), Zdeslav Vrdoljak (2), Damir Buric, Aljosa Kunac, Maro Jokovic, Pavo Markovic (1)
David Neesham: I felt tonight we played really well in both attack and defence.
We didn't capitalise on early opportunities and let the Croatians get away to a five goal lead.
After this we began to settle down and scored some good general goals, through both Pietro Figlioli and Gavin Woods who were in good form.
I think tonight showed what we are capable of and hopefully we can produce a similar effort on Saturday against South Africa.
WOMEN - 21 March 07
Australia 26 - Puerto Rico 1
Australia: 26: Nikita Cuffe (6), Kate Gynther (6), Gemma Hadley (5), Suzie Fraser (3), Taniele Gofers (1), Bronwen Knox(2), Mia Santoromito (1), Melissa Rippon (1), Amy Hetzel (1)
Puerto Rico 1: Paola Medina (1)
Greg McFadden: Tonight was very pleasing after our nervous start on Monday night.
Most pleasing was our solid defence, allowing them only one goal.
The defence contributed to our great attack, allowing for some good counter-attack options.
Whilst we didn't know a lot about Puerto Rico as we hadn't played them before we always respect our opposition and went out tonight as hard as we could.
Tonight was also good to see Bec Rippon play her first game after her hand operation and it will be good to have her at full strength when we take on Brazil on Friday night.
MEN - 20 March 07
USA 9 - Australia 3
Australia: 3 - Trent Franklin (1), Pietro Figlioli (1), Thomas Whalan (1)
United States Of America: 9 - Adam Wright (1), Kevin Witt (3), Tony Azevedo (3), Jesse Smith (2)
David Neesham: Tonight was our worst game for 12 months so it was pretty disappointing.
Our extra man defence was poor, and we couldn't convert our extra man opportunities allowing the USA to get ahead of us.
The result was indicative of our poor execution - we couldn't get two goals in a row even though we had plenty of opportunities.
The positives were that I thought our young guys, Johnno Cotterill and Anthony Martin, played well in their first World Champs game and will only gain from the experience.
We now need to turn our attention to the game against Croatia who will be harder than the USA so we will need to improve dramatically.
WOMEN - 19 March 07
Australia 5 - Canada 4
Australia: Gemma Beadsworth (2), Taniele Gofers, Mia Santoramito, Mel Rippon
Canada: Cora Campbell, Christine Robinson, Christine Robinson (2)
Greg McFadden: talks about Australia's come from behind 5 - 4 win over Canada.
"We have a pretty fierce rivalry with Canada having played a lot so we know each other's games quite well.
From the start it was quite heavy and we struggled, especially as we were a bit nervous.
We had a lot of shots and the Canadian goal keeper was in great form, but it was great to get ahead in the final quarter and we can now put the game behind us.
We now have to move our focus to Wednesday night in our first ever game against Puerto Rico where we could also have Rebecca Rippon available as she is recovering well from her hand operation."
