Live stream: Watch Australian Water Polo League finals series
So close in recent seasons, Drummoyne Devils have finally crossed the title-winning threshold, while Queensland Thunder showed their class in the women’s decider. Relive all the grand final action.
Water Polo Live Stream
Don't miss out on the headlines from Water Polo Live Stream. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Following a nearly flawless season, the Drummoyne Devils have finally claimed that elusive first Australian Water Polo League men’s title.
It was a close thing though, with the Devils edging out Sydney University Lions 11-10 in a tense grand final on Sunday.
Devils star Tristan Glanznig said it was hard to describe the feeling.
“It’s been a dream forever to win the title,” Glanznig said.
“It was such a grind of a game, we just couldn’t get away from them.
“We had come back from being down at one stage and, yeah, it was a hard one to win.”
The celebration is also a farewell for many of the senior players, who are moving on or moving away.
“We had a lot of older players come back to play,” Glanznig explained.
“I’m sure this will be a lot of people’s last season, like the Edwards brothers who are going back to Melbourne after this.”
THUNDER CELEBRATE YET ANOTHER WOMEN’S TITLE SUCCESS
Like the majority of games over the last four days, the women’s AWL grand final went down to the wire.
That Queensland Thunder emerged as victors should come as no surprise.
But a valiant Fremantle Marlins, playing their fourth game in four days, were competitive throughout and only went down 13-9.
The Marlins took an early 4-2 lead in the first quarter, but let it slip away dramatically as Queensland scored five unanswered goals to lead 7-4 just after halftime.
Bridget Leeson-Smith, who scored five goals for the Thunder, said they knew at quarter time they needed to regroup.
“We came back fighting from the second quarter onwards,” Leeson-Smith said.
“One of our girls stepped up and said, ‘look, we need to control, we need to get out there, have a crack, fight, and play how we’re meant to be playing.’”
Fremantle’s Stefania Haralabidas seemed to want to win it all by herself, dominating the scoring to single handedly keep the Marlins in touch of the win.
Leeson-Smith said it was clear that the second half was going to be a very defensive game.
“They had a very, very experienced side,” she said.
“They had very good shooters, they had a great centre forward.
“So I think we really needed to shut down their attack, then go from our defence into a strong counter attack.”
Australian Water Polo League women’s grand final
Check out the LIVE STREAM draw below.
DAY THREE REPLAYS
UWA Torpedoes v UNSW Wests Magpies (Men’s 5th/6th Play-Off )
Balmain Tigers v Sydney Uni Lions (Men's Semi-Final B)
Balmain Tigers v Fremantle Marlins (Women's Semi-Final B)
Drummoyne Devils v UWA Torpedoes (Women’s 5th/6th Play-Off)
REPORTS
Defiant Lions make no apologies for gritty approach
“It doesn’t have to be pretty, you just have to win.”
The Sydney Uni Lions’ semifinal win over UTS Balmain Tigers was not the cleanest of matches, featuring two player red cards and plenty of exclusions, but the Lions got the job done.
Lions star Rhys Howden said gritty matches have been the story of their finals series and it doesn’t end here.
“Today wasn’t pretty, the day before wasn’t pretty and the final I don’t think is gonna be pretty either,” Howden said.
“A third match on the third day, I think physically it was going to be hard and mentally as well.”
The Lions benefited from two Tigers red cards before halftime, with two of the side’s best players, Gordan Marshall and Daniel Lawrence, sent off.
“I think we got lucky on a few of their better players getting excluded early for talking back,” Howden said.
“Those two were the two top goalscorers and best players on their team, so I mean, you can’t rely on that really.”
The Tigers attempted a comeback in the third quarter, levelling the scores midway through before falling two goals behind before the buzzer.
“I think we just lost our heads a bit,” Howden admitted.
“Tomorrow we can’t afford to do that against Drummoyne.
“We’re pretty close to them and we just need to be as ready as we can.”
‘You’ve been made for those moments, you need to take those opportunities.’
The Fremantle Marlins have run the gauntlet, winning three games in as many days to secure an AWL women’s grand final match against Queensland Thunder on Sunday.
With only seconds to go in the final quarter, Marlins captain Glencora McGhie came up clutch to secure the winning goal.
“I wasn’t thinking, ‘what if I miss?’” McGhie said.
“You’ve been made for those moments, you need to take those opportunities.”
The Marlins head to the grand final with three times as many games this weekend as their opponents, whose victory on Friday against Balmain put them straight through to the decider.
But McGhie said she wasn’t concerned with how her team will pull up in the final.
“It is what it is, but we’ll definitely be feeling it in our bodies,” she said.
“We don’t want to make excuses, we’ll have to pull something out.
All three of the Marlins’ games this weekend have been decided by one or two goals, including Friday’s qualifying final against Sydney Uni Lions which went down to penalties.
“I think grits got us through all the games,” McGhie said.
“So I don’t think we’ll be changing anything (for the final).”
The Thunder would be the favourites for the final as the top seed and with a host of national talent in their roster.
But the Marlins did come out on top the last time the two teams met in the final round of the regular season, winning 9-8 in Queensland’s home pool.
The Sydney Uni Lions, who came out on top of a thrilling battle with ACU Cronulla Sharks on Friday, will play UTS Balmain Tigers in the men’s semifinal later today.
The Tigers fell to a dominant Drummoyne Devils but have one more shot at a grand final berth.
DAY TWO REPLAYS
Fremantle Marlins v Sydney Uni Lions (Women's Qualifying Final)
Griffith Uni QLD Thunder v UTS Balmain (Women’s Semi-Final)
Drummoyne Devils v UTS Balmain (Men's Semi-Final)
Sydney Uni Lions v ACU Cronulla Sharks (Men’s Qualifying Final)
Devils straight into decider after big win
Drummoyne Devils were back to their winning ways, booking their spot in the AWL men’s grand final with a convincing 13-8 win over UTS Balmain Tigers.
The Devils were beaten in the final round of the regular season by the Tigers, but never looked in any doubt of losing their qualifying final.
But despite the five-goal margin, Devils star Blake Edwards said it definitely didn’t feel comfortable.
“It definitely wasn’t cruisy,” Edwards said.
“It may have looked that way, but Balmain made for a really tough opponent.
“They’ve played excellent all season and played really well as a team today.
“I knew it was gonna be a tough game but we were ready to bring our best game and we got the result that we got.”
The Devils will now have a day off as they prepare for Sunday’s decider, as Balmain take on Sydney Uni Lions for the second grand final spot.
Edwards said recovery as a team will be very important to get ready for such a big game.
“We’ll be making sure that we’re as fresh as possible going into Sunday.
“No doubt we’ll watch (Saturday’s semi-final), we’re not sure where we’ll actually watch it from, but we’ll definitely watch it with interest.
“The real key message for our team is just to really control what we’re able to control, which is how we perform so we’ll continue to focus on ourselves.
“This got us to this point so far this season, and that’s how we address the game on Sunday.”
Sharks see red as Lions stay on title course
Sydney Uni Lions’ managed to hold off a physical Cronulla Sharks to keep their AWL men’s finals series hopes alive.
What was already a scrappy game went to a whole new level in the fourth quarter, with the Sharks’ Joe Kayes, as well as a member of their coaching staff, being red carded.
Despite the advantage for the Lions late on, top scorer Chaz Poot said he was never confident of victory.
“Oh, you can never write off Cronulla,” Poot said.
“They can always pull something out of nowhere, it really wasn’t over til the fat lady sings.”
Neither team led by more than two goals up until the final few minutes, with Lions’ keeper Bae Fountain and Sharks opposite Hayden Malla saving their share of goals and penalties.
Poot said he expected Saturday’s game to be equally as tough, especially with a grand final spot up for grabs.
.
“We’re never gonna get too ahead of ourselves,” Poot said.
“I’m always always confident we’re gonna come out on top, but we never want to underestimate who we are against.
‘Only took us a few minutes to get in the groove’
Queensland Thunder have breezed into the AWL grand final with a comfortable 12-8 win over UTS Balmain Tigers.
They controlled much of the game but a late charge from the Tigers gave the team some concern late in the match.
The Thunder showed no signs of rust with the returning national team players, including Abby Andrews who led the side’s scoring with four goals.
“We’ve been playing together for so long so it only takes a few minutes to get in the groove,” Andrews said.
“But we definitely had to shake off a few cobwebs at the beginning there.”
Tigers goalkeeper Genevieve Longman said despite her team’s disappointing result, there were plenty of positives to take from the game.
“They’re an incredibly good team full of national team players.,” Longman said about the Thunder.
“So we’ve got to really focus on what we did well, turn those mistakes around and come out firing tomorrow.”
The Tigers will now face the Fremantle Marlins for another shot at the grand final and Longman said a few changes will need to be made.
“I think tomorrow we’re just gonna really focus on our basics and our defence,” she said.
“Our second half was really solid, so we need to start the game like we finished the game and I think we’ll be in a really good place.”
Scott proves hero as Marlins survive stern test
A stellar performance from Marlins goalkeeper Izzy Scott has lifted her side into Saturday’s semi-final at the expense of the gallant Sydney Uni Lions.
The two teams were unable to be split at the final buzzer, with scores locked at 11-11. The Marlins then held their nerve in a penalty shootout to win 15-14.
“To be honest, I feel like the game was more stressful than the penalties,” Scott said.
“Our teams had three penalty shootouts this season, so I felt pretty prepared for that.
“But those last few seconds when they called the timeout, that was stressful.”
The Marlins’ were scrappy in defence, accruing 11 major fouls, including three from Jessica Zimmerman, whose 150th AWL game celebrations came to an early end.
“She is one of our top players, so that did make it a bit hard,” Scott admitted.
“But we’ve got so many other experienced players, I feel like we filled that gap pretty well.”
Scott said she was happy with how the team performed despite the errors, but they’ll need to work on keeping focused before their next game.
“Honestly, I think we just need to stick to our system and settle down a little bit,” she said.
Catch four games LIVE from the Sydney Olympic Pool. Check out the schedule below.
DAY ONE REPLAYS
UNSW Wests Magpies v ACU Cronulla Sharks (Men's Elimination Final)
Sydney Uni Lions v UWA Torpedoes (Men’s Elimination Final)
UWA Torpedoes v Sydney Uni Lions (Women's Elimination Final)
Fremantle Marlins v Drummoyne Devils (Women’s Elimination)
PREVIEW
The thrilling 2024 Australian Water Polo League season comes to an end this weekend as the top six men’s and women’s teams from across the country battle it out for championship glory.
The AWL finals series will also be one of the final chances for fans to see Australia’s Olympic hopefuls before they head off to Paris for the Olympics.
Every match of the AWL finals series will be exclusively live streamed on KommunityTV and across all of News Corp Australia’s digital mastheads.
Athletes will go head-to-head across a long weekend of action at Sydney’s Olympic Park Aquatic Centre.
The action begins with a host of elimination finals on Thursday. See how it will all go down below.
Reigning men’s champions UNSW Wests Magpies have one of the most experienced national team players in their squad with Sharks’ co-captain Nathan Power.
Despite missing a few matches due to Sharks duty, Power has still recorded 57 goals this season.
Lining up with him at the Magpies is Sam Nangle, who made his national team debut in 2023, as well as Matthew Byrnes and Charlie Negus.
Recent Sharks addition Laurence Barker held down the Drummoyne Devils’ defence on their way to the top of the ladder, having the lowest goals against in the league with just 170.
Another recent debutant, Tristan Glanzig, has been solid for the Devils, netting 54 goals in 20 matches as the highest scorer on the team.
QUEENSLAND THUNDER STAR SOUNDS AWL FINALS WARNING
Blake Edwards also contributed plenty of goals in his 14 matches this season with 25, while his younger brother Lachlan managed 22.
Last year’s runners-up, Sydney Uni Lions, have only one current national team player on their team in Chaz Poot.
Poot debuted for the Sharks in 2022 and made his World Championship bow in the same year.
Meanwhile, Queensland-born ACU Cronulla centre back Marcus Berehulak is hoping to make the squad for his first Olympic games.
His teammates and national team program members Milos Maksimovic and Joe Kayes have also not featured in an Olympic games, despite being in the program for a number of years.
West Australian locals Tim Putt, Andrew and George Ford all represented Australia at the 2020 games in Tokyo and remain with the UWA Torpedoes in their home state.
UTS Balmain Tigers have a future star leading their defence in young goalkeeper Joey Parnis while Mitch Robinson will be hoping for his first bit of silverware in Sydney.
Queensland Thunder held onto its narrow lead to finish top of the women’s ladder with UTS Balmain Tigers securing second place.
Both sides will avoid playing on day one of the finals series, progressing through to the qualifying final on Friday.
After going all season undefeated, Drummoyne recorded its first loss in the final match of the men’s season against UTS Balmain.
While they won’t have the momentum on their side, the Devils still go through to finals in first place with the Tigers drawn to play them in Friday’s qualifying final.
The winners of both men’s and women’s qualifying finals will earn another day out of the water and move straight into Sunday’s grand final, while the loser will move into Saturday’s preliminary finals.
The girls from the Wild West will flood the action on Anazac Day, with both UWA Torpedoes and Fremantle Marlins in action in the elimination finals.
The Torpedoes will also feature in the men’s elimination finals up against last year’s grand finalists Sydney Uni Lions, while reigning premiers UNSW Wests Magpies will clash with an exciting Cronulla Sharks side.
Originally published as Live stream: Watch Australian Water Polo League finals series
‘As long as we keep our heads, we give ourselves a chance to win’
It’s been a tough ride to the biggest game of the AWL season, but Sydney Uni Lions are determined to stay out of trouble and embrace the occasion. Catch the game LIVE at 11.30am on Sunday.
‘Definitely wary of us’: Queensland star sounds AWL finals warning
She’s hoping to head to Paris in a few months, but first there’s the small matter of another AWL title for Stingers and Thunder goalkeeper Gabi Palm. Catch her LIVE in the finals from Thursday.