Smith Connors, Lily Merlo, Paris Bromfield and more named as players to watch

The Sunshine Coast will head into the Queensland Water Polo Country Championships with high expectations as coaches reveal who will be the keys to success. SEE THE FULL LIST:

Queensland’s top water polo talent will be descending on Far North Queensland for the Country Championship this weekend and Sunshine Coast coach Paul Coolican says his teams are not to be taken lightly.

The tournament will feature more than 140 women and men with teams from across regional Queensland including Gold Coast, Cairns, Sunshine Coast, Mackay, Townsville and Rockhampton competing.

Matches begin on Friday, February 18, with the finals on Sunday being livestreamed through the Courier Mail and News Corp affiliates.

Dylan, Flynn and Rhys Coolican will all compete for the Sunshine Coast after representing the Bushrangers in the Queensland Premier League. Picture: Zac Hudson.

Sunshine Coast water polo president and men’s coach Paul Coolican said both teams will look to compete deep into the finals.

“Both teams are reasonably strong and both teams have a whole lot of confident players,” he said.

“With our bench numbers it’s very much a ‘go hard and get off’ mentality so I’m feeling quite confident that we should end up playing for a medal.”

Coolican said the men’s team had a ‘solid’ mix of ages and experience.

“We have some really talented juniors playing for us and some more experienced players that have all come through the ranks and represented teams at various high levels,” he said.

“They’re all very capable players and a large majority of them will be vying for Queensland Country selection.”

Sunshine Coast players Smith Connors, Francis Rupnik and Joseph O’Brien will all be ones to watch this weekend. Pictures: Geoff Potter, John Gass

Coolican said his team had a number of exciting players.

“It really is a nice team all round but Smith Connors is a young fella who is a very exciting prospect and that’s the same for our younger goalkeeper Archie Blackmore,” he said.

“Both of those boys will be ones to watch and same for the likes of Joey O’Brien and Francis Rupnick.

“Each player brings something new to the table so they’ll be impressive throughout the tournament.”

Sunshine Coast players Paris Bromfield, Lily Merlo and Amali Scott have been named as standout players for their team. Picture: John Gass, Noosa Water Polo

Coolican said the women's team also had high expectations leading in.

“It’s lovely to take away some experienced juniors that are capable of playing at this level and these girls will put forward a good performance,” he said.

“Amali Scott is definitely one of the girls to look out for and same with the amazing Lily Merlo.

“Paris Bromfield is always a standout in these types of competitions and Lucy Wolfenden, who is an outside shooter, will be a real surprise packet.”

Both Sunshine Coast teams kick off their campaign against the host region Cairns on Friday morning.