Aussie Sharks Undefeated in Opening Rounds

The Aussie Sharks find themselves undefeated following the opening rounds of the FINA Men’s World League Intercontinental Tournament, having beaten both Japan and New Zealand.

The Tournament, which is currently being played on the Gold Coast, will see the Australians take on the USA, China and Kazakhstan, alongside those they’ve already versed.

At the conclusion of the tournament the top ranked sides will qualify to compete at the FINA World League Final in Russia in June.

Round one saw the Aussie Sharks come away with a convincing win over their Trans-Tasman rivals, scoring 18 goals to New Zealand’s three.

The new look side welcomed five debutants including Western Australians Tim Putt and James Fannon.

Competing in front of a supportive home crowd the Aussie’s took control of the game from the starting whistle.

Head Coach, Elvis Fatovic said “it’s good for us to start the tournament with a win, especially in front of the crowd that turned out here today.”

Heading into their second match against Japan he stated “hopefully we will be able to match it against them because they are a team that has a lot of their Rio Olympic players.”

Game two against Japan saw a tighter score line, the Sharks eventually coming away with a two goal victory, 13 to 11.

After having been in the lead for the majority of the game, Japan staged a comeback in the final quarter forcing the two sides into a penalty shootout to determine the winner.

Impressive shooting from the Australian’s alongside the much needed defence from Western Australian goal keeper Ed Slade saw the two side score two from two to come away with the win.

Fatovic was happy with his sides performance stating “the result was good because coming in to the Tournament we probably all thought Japan has the best team because they have the majority of their players from the Olympic Games.”

“What you want to play against them is to avoid the counter attack because they are deadly and also we can set up the game six on six we know we are better team than them.”

“For many of our players this was their first experience against a team that plays an unusual style and probably good experience for them.”

“This is a great opportunity for our younger players because this is the chance to prove to us and themselves that they deserve to be on the team.”

Australia will be looking to maintain their unbeaten run as they take on Kazakhstan in their third match of the tournament this afternoon at 4:10pm (WST).