Australian Waterpolo League and 100+ junior games to be live-streamed in new broadcast deal (WPA season-long deal (Underage nationals, AYC, AWL))
After a two year hiatus water polo is back and a new broadcast deal with News Corp Australia means fans can watch more than 200 live games. All the streaming details here.
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Water Polo is back, after a two year hiatus, and a new broadcast deal between Water Polo Australia and News Corp means fans will be able to live stream more than 200 games in 2022.
The deal covers the Australian Waterpolo League (AWL), Australian Youth Championships (under 14s to under 18s) and the Summer Slam.
Games will stream across The Courier-Mail, The Australian, The Daily Telegraph, Herald-Sun, The Advertiser, Hobart Mercury, plus many regional websites.
Following two years of cancelled competitions this season’s national competitions will feature more matches than ever before.
The season will start with the Summer Slam in Brisbane from January 10 a state versus state competition for under 16s, 18s and 20s.
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Olympians and future stars vying for a spot in teams bound for Paris 2024 will then go head to head in the AWL which starts on Australia Day.
Eleven teams will battle it out across 230 games of water polo in a new format eight-week competition.
All teams will battle it out for the KAP7 Cup in the first two weeks and with just the top six teams progressing to the championship rounds every point will count.
Each team in the championship will play each other twice across five rounds before the finals series in April.
The bottom five teams will play off for the Southern Cross Cup, over four rounds.
Queensland Thunder, who won the last tournament in 2019, will be the team to beat.
Rising star and member of the Stingers training squad Bridget Leeson-Smith said after 24 months of training she was nervous and excited to finally play a competitive match again.
The 24-year-old utility, said it was a “stab in the heart” when the 2021 competition was cancelled.
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“It has been such a tough 24 months, especially for the girls who were not in the Olympic squad, we hardly competed and have just been in no man’s land,” Leeson-Smith said.
“We are so excited to have it back and have been training 11 times a week.”
Leeson-Smith welcomed the news 88 AWL games would be live-streamed in 2022.
“It’s never been done before and I love being able to watch the games that we can’t physically be there for,” she said.
“It will be great to watch everyone else play and to support my friends playing interstate.”
It will be a big year for the national water polo teams with the Inter-Continental Cup in March and World Championships in May.
Leeson-Smith said the AWL was the perfect opportunity for rising stars to show selectors and coaches what they can do in the pool.
The first half of the national season will be capped off with the Australian Youth Water Polo Championships to again be held in Brisbane, that is set to bring together more than 170 teams from across the nation together on the Easter long weekend.
Water Polo Australia CEO Richard McInnes said the partnership with News Corp Australia would look to extend the work started during the KAP7 Cup earlier this year.
“We are excited to extend our partnership with News Corp Australia that will see more than
200 games streamed live, the most water polo matches Aussies have ever had available,” Mr McInnes said.
“A partnership with News Corp Australia will not only ensure our water polo fans can watch
more water polo through live matches and replays, but it allows our sport to connect to new
audiences through their extensive reach.
“From our grassroots club competitions through to our premier Australian Waterpolo League,
we will be able to showcase the best our sport has to offer and allow more people to learn
about water polo but also about our players.”
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