Orange Water Polo: Jets defeat KWS Krill in opens grand final

The defending champs recorded 10-goal margins in their semi-final and grand final wins to cap off an unbeaten 2021-22 season.

They first accounted for Goal Diggers 13-3 in the semi-final before downing KWS Krill 12-2 in the decider.

Jets captain Gavin Pilossof had praise for his players as well as their opponents.

"It always feels good to win and even better to win with such a great group of people," Pilossof said.

"We were, however, a little fortunate that both KWS Krill and the Goal Diggers were missing some players for the finals. I thought KWS played very well under difficult circumstances, so congratulations to them for making the grand final and putting up a fight to the very end."

Jets were too good for a depleted Goal Diggers in the first semi-final, being up 8-2 at half-time. The minor premiers were able to restrict the attack of Diggers' Sam Martin and then counter quickly with Kolby McMahon (4), Nikita Williams (3), Gus Forsyth (3) and Brett Wells (2) bagging multiple goals to earn Jets a place in the decider.

In the other semi-final, KWS Krill were able to hold off a late surge from Platypus SIlver to win 8-6.

KWS Krill were up 6-2 at the main break but Platypus Silver fought back to level the scores at 6-all in the final quarter. The KWS players were able to show great composure as Claudia Haseler and Henry Wakem slotted goals and the team held out the hard Platypus attack.

The experience of the Jets came to the fore in the grand final as they held a tiring KWS Krill scoreless for the first three quarters to lead 10-0.

Arnie Tancred and Matthew Fox slammed in two great goals in the final period to get the students on the board.

Williams was incredible up front for the Jets, as expected, scoring five goals in the decider. Cameron Martin was slick in defence and Brad Timbs provided great attacking options.

"The whole team played very well but if I had to single out a couple of players it would be Kolby McMahon and Gus Forsyth," Pilossof said of the winners.

"For KWS I thought Arnie Tancred had an awesome game and young Emily Clunas caught the eye of some experienced players and looks to have a very bright future in water polo."

In the intermediates grand final, minor premiers Orange Water Dragons toppled KWS Nessies 7-2.

The first quarter set up the win for the Water Dragons when they scored four unanswered goals, including two to Xanthe Locke.

KWS Nessies applied plenty of pressure in the second half but the Water Dragons defence only allowed Angus Croft and Matthew Davis scoring opportunities.

The match finished with Locke scoring a treble and Caitlin Atallah adding a double to the Water Dragons' total.

INTERMEDIATES:

Grand final: Orange Water Dragons 7 (Xanthe Locke 3, Caitlin Atallah 2, Heath Vaughan, Oliver Dirs) def KWS Nessies 2 (Angus Croft, Matthew Davis).

OPENS:

Semi-final (1v4): Jets 13 (Kolby McMahon 4, Gus Forsyth 3, Nikita Wiliams 3, Brett Wells 2, Matt Forsyth) def Goal Diggers 3 (Xanthe Locke, Sarah Sokol, Sam Martin).

Semi-final (2v3): KWS Krill 8 (Claudia Haseler 3, Henry Wakem 3, Kaden Blanksby, Emily Clunas) def Platypus Silver 6 (Angus Wilson 4, Todd Maunder, Digby Cooper).

Grand final: Jets 12 (Nikita Williams 5, Brett Wells 2, Gus Forsyth 2, Kolby McMahon 2, Brad Timbs) def KWS Krill 2 (Arnie Tancred, Matthew Fox).

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