QLD Country Championships 2022: FNQ ready for action
FNQ’s women’s team made waves at the QLD Country Championships on the weekend. WATCH THE REPLAYS >>>
Cairns
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The Cairns Water Polo Reef Sharks women’s team were out for blood on Sunday, claiming a silver medal in the Queensland Country Championships against their well-resourced southern foes.
Despite coming up short to the Gold Coast in a gripping 15-4 loss in the gold medal match, player Franny Earp was proud of what the team had accomplished.
“It’s the first time in a long time the final hasn’t been Sunny Coast or Gold Coast just being in the places they are, they have a lot more resources for their teams, training and development,” she said.
“It was really exciting to make it to the gold medal match, particularly when we’re playing at home for this tournament. It was nice to have some spectators come to watch the game.”
Earp – who dislocated her shoulder in the first round – said the team had made tremendous stride in just 12 months since the last Country Championships.
“We really fought for that medal which was really exciting,” she said.
“I was in our team last year when we went down to play in Toowoomba, and the team we put forward this year compared to that one has a lot more depth.”
The men’s Reef Sharks team won bronze, defeating the QLD Bushrangers 14-7.
Gold Coast won the men’s gold in a thrilling shootout against the Sunshine Coast 14-12.
Earp said the tournament as a whole showed how much Cairns had to offer in the way of water polo.
“We’re just really building that strength in the club, we still have that social aspect but we’re definitely building up people participating and playing competitively,” she said.
“Which I think is evident in that we were able to play in that gold medal match.”
WATCH THE REPLAYS
It’s been a thrilling couple of days of aquatic action at the Tobruk Memorial Pool in Cairns, and today’s stellar slate of finals games are expected to be no different.
See below for the schedule of Queensland Country Championship finals fixtures, all of which will be live streamed from this page:
Open men’s finals - Mackay WPC v Cairns Gummy Sharks
Open women’s bronze - Sunshine Coast v Rockhampton/Gold Coast
Open men’s bronze - Cairns Reef Sharks v QLD Bushrangers
Open women's gold - Gold Coast v Cairns Reef Sharks
Open men's gold - Sunshine Coast v Gold Coast - replay at top of story
EARLIER
Covid nearly put a stop to this weekend’s Queensland Water Polo Country Championship, but the event has gone ahead with the Far North front and centre representation-wise in the pool.
Cairns Water Polo president Jarred Heiser – who’s only been in the job for a month – said there’d been a couple of Covid scares within the club as well as participating clubs from across the state.
“We thought we were going to have a little outbreak – we experienced it pretty much right up to Friday, with people still not playing,” he said.
“We had a scare where we might not have been able to put up a team, but it’s the same with others.
“Mackay and the Gold Coast who are represented by one team – usually they have 200 people playing.”
Being able to put on the competition breathes a sigh of relief for the newly minted president.
Heiser himself has been part of Cairns Water Polo for two years; serving in the navy, he represented Australia in the ADF water polo team overseas.
Upon his stationing in the Far North, he decided to join a “civilian” team – Cairns Water Polo.
A couple of years later, and Heiser finds himself heading up the continuously growing social group.
“I’m injured and a bit old myself, so it was my way of stepping up and keeping involved in the club,” he said.
“It’s keeping me busy and close to the game which is good.”
News Corp has partnered with Water Polo Queensland to bring you the final day of the Queensland Country Championships livestreamed from Cairns.
Matches will run from 10am on February 20, featuring teams from Cairns, the Gold Coast, Townsville, the Sunshine Coast and Rockhampton.
You will need a News Corp subscription to watch the live streams.
LIVE STREAM SCHEDULE
Sunday, Feb 20
10am: Men’s 5th-Place Play-Off
11am: Women Bronze Medal Match
12pm: Men Bronze Medal Match
1pm: Women Gold Medal Match
2pm: Men’s Gold Medal Match
With matches and practices being held at picturesque tropical locations such as Malanda Falls and Lake Barrine, Heiser said there’s been plenty of eager messages from people wanting to return to the pool to play.
He added that teams from elsewhere in the country have seen the tropical backdrops to Cairns Water Polo’s games, keen to visit the sites themselves for a game or two.
“People from cities all the way to Victoria and NSW have seen our social media posts and expressed interest to come,” Heiser said.
“We aren’t opening it up as of yet, but hopefully the goal is in a few years clubs from around Australia will be willing to come.”
In spite of the pandemic, about 140 competitors from Rockhampton, Toowoomba, Mackay, Townsville as well as the Sunshine and Gold coasts have converged on the Tobruk Memorial Pool for the state tournament.
While Cairns’ two men’s and solitary women’s teams have experienced a few losses on the first day of the tournament, Heiser said participation was a major highlight.
“We actually couldn’t fit a few talented juniors in the teams,” he said.
“When you’re actually turning away people – maybe they can play next time – it shows where our strength is in numbers.”
‘We’re coming away with gold’: Cairns hopeful of championship glory
PLAYERS who have come from far and wide will do so for the Far North this weekend as Cairns hosts the biggest tournament for the sport in the state.
Cairns Water Polo has entered three teams in the Queensland Country Championship, made up of a number of players who have moved to Cairns and fallen back in love with the sport.
Cairns Gummy Sharks player Luke Robinson has played water polo for 20 years, but only returned to the sport in the last fortnight.
He moved to Tolga a few months ago, but said the welcoming nature of the Cairns water polo community had him ready to make the commute and get back into the pool.
“My old man played it, I’ve only moved up here from Adelaide a couple of months ago and found the club,” he said.
Cairns Reef Sharks women’s player Kate Wheaton has lived in Cairns for six months since moving from Sydney. So far, the move to tropics had been a good one in her eyes, particularly when it came to hitting the pool.
“It’s very hot up here, so any sport is good at the moment,” Wheaton said.
“It’s so nice, I like with Cairns they do a lake series where we play at different lakes every weekend.”
Cairns’ water polo prowess will be on full display at the country championships, with the club sporting a comp-high two men’s teams: the Reef and Gummy Sharks, and the women’s Reef Sharks team.
“It’s a small region, but it’s really exciting and we’re doing really well and there’s a couple of juniors coming up,” Wheaton said.
Teams from the Gold Coast, Rockhampton, Townsville, Mackay and the Sunshine Coast will also be competing at the event, which begins on Friday.
James Anstey moved to Cairns from Townsville for university, but started playing with his brothers 10 years ago in Kenilworth near the Sunshine Coast.
He’ll be facing a familiar foe this weekend, having played for the Sunshine Coast team for a number of years.
“All the Sunny Coast boys will be up, it’ll be a good competition,” he said.
“They’re (Reef Sharks) good, they don’t need any secrets from me.
“It’s always good to know how a team plays, considering I’ve been playing for them for eight years.”
Meanwhile Robinson was confident in his side’s chances to give the other teams a run for their money.
“I’ve played that bloody long that it doesn’t take long to remember what to do and how things are done,” he said.
“We’re coming away with the gold, we may be the b team but the Reef Sharks got nothing on us.”
Country Championships: FNQ’s best ready to defend familiar waters
QUEENSLAND’S best water polo players will be ascending to Far North Queensland for the Country Championship this weekend, and one of Cairns’ premier players could not be more excited to defend his turf.
About 140 players from across the state will duke it out at the Tobruk Memorial Pool for what will be Cairns’ second time hosting the splashy spectacle.
Ryan Barton will be donning the daks of the Cairns Water Polo Reef Sharks – the Far North’s top men’s team.
The driver said to showcase the Cairns water polo community to both incoming competitors and the wider Far North community was hugely rewarding.
“It’s going to be really fun,” Barton said.
“It’s great Cairns can host it and we can show off Cairns to the water polo community.
“It’s really good for Cairns we’ve been able to enter two (men’s) teams this year.
“I’m just looking forward to getting out there to play some games, hopefully we can do really well.”
As well as the men’s Reef Sharks team, Cairns Water Polo will have a women’s Reef Sharks team and a men’s B team, dubbed the ‘Gummy Sharks’.
Barton has only played water polo in FNQ for two years – having played in Melbourne since he was young – but has already noticed the ever-increasing profile of the sport in the region.
“The competition’s been really good since I’ve been here,” he said.
“They’ve put a lot into running training sessions once a week all year and social games across the summer season.”
The sports’ competitive edge in Cairns is further boosted by having players in the Brisbane-based Water Polo Queensland Premier League – in which Barton plays for the Bushrangers.
“That’s been a really good pathway for more experienced players to go down to Brisbane and play at a really high competition against some really established professional teams,” Barton said.
“It gives people in the regions good access to a high level of water polo you just don’t get up here.
“Going down to Brisbane to play a few games has been a really rewarding experience.”
As for how Cairns will fare against their southern opposition from the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Townsville among others, Barton remained optimistic.
“It’ll be really good matching our ability against some of those regional towns,” he said.
“They’re similar to us – they don’t play many games a year.”
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