Australian water polo league replays: Balmain men dominate, Queensland Thunder women win

Balmain and Queensland Thunder took a win each in the latest Australian water polo live stream matches. Watch the match replays here.

Balmain have plenty to play for this weekend when they tackle Queensland Thunder in the Australian water polo league.

The Queensland Thunder remain the only undefeated team in the Australian water polo league after just holding out the Balmain Tigers with a goal in the final minute of their thriller in Sydney.

With both clubs without top players due to international commitments, it was always expected the Saturday match would be a close tussle. But few tipped it to go down to the minute.

With the two sides locked at 8-8, Thunder called a time out with around 38 seconds on the clock in the match live stream across NewsLocal websites.

BALMAIN TIGERS V QUEENSLAND THUNDER WOMEN’S REPLAY

“They had a time out then played something unorthodox, an unstructured attack, and it worked.’’ said Balmain’s Olivia Mitchell.

“We were confused and out of position and Kate Blew came in and got the shot.

“It was tough. They just have that little edge on us.

“They have a really high intensity team, a quality team, amazing all-round.’’

Maddison Schmid was outstanding for Balmain with four goals.

Blew, Alice Williams and Jessica Emerson all scored two each for Thunder.

REPLAY:THRILLER, BIG WIN IN LAST ROUND

REPLAY: GREAT RD 8 AWL MATCHES

In the following men’s match, Balmain proved too strong for Thunder in a crucial match for the Sydney club.

Sitting in sixth place with five wins and six losses before the game, Balmain were urgent to move up the AWL ladder with the win over a Thunder side sitting in third place ahead of the weekend match-up.

“It’s huge for us, very important,’’ said Ciaran James after the match.

“At the start our defence wasn’t too great but at the end of the game they excelled.’’

Balmain took the match 15-10 with Mitch Robinson topscoring for the locals with four goals.

Best for Thunder was Reilly Townsend with five goals.

BALMAIN TIGERS V QUEENSLAND THUNDER MEN’S REPLAY

BALMAIN V QUEENSLAND THUNDER AWL PREVIEW

The Balmain Tigers have big goals for a big weekend of matches against Queensland Thunder in the upcoming round of the Australian water polo league in Sydney.

The women’s team will be bidding to end the undefeated run of the Thunder women when they take on Queensland in Saturday’s match which is being live streamed across News Corp websites and in the player above on game day.

Balmain’s men, buoyed by a crucial win over the Cronulla Sharks last round, are chasing victory to push closer to an automatic finals berth in their competition.

Balmain and Queensland clash twice on the weekend but Saturday’s matches will both be live streamed as part of an exclusive deal with Water Polo Australia and News Corp.

The matches will be played at 4pm and 5pm on Saturday.

William Miller from the Queensland Thunder men’s side in action earlier this month.

“The next fortnight of games will be pretty telling as to who is going to make the top four,“ said Balmain Tigers player Henry Sanderson.

“We need to do our part and get those wins this weekend.

“Hopefully a few more wins will get us in top four. Beating the Sharks on Sunday was a big one for us.

“We haven’t been up in the finals for 10 years and this was one of our goals at the start of the season.

“The women’s team have been more successful but it’s been a long time between drinks for us.’’

The Queensland Thunder side will play two days in Sydney.

Sanderson said he and his teammates are looking forward to playing a different style of water polo against Queensland.

“We see the talent in Sydney weekend and week out so Queensland will be good to challenge.

“It’s good for us to challenge against a strong team with a lot of established talent and junior talent coming through. We are looking forward to it.”