The Australian national water polo team represents Australia in men's international water polo competitions and is controlled by Water Polo Australia. The national men's team has the nickname of "The Sharks". It is organised into the Asia/Oceania regional group.
History Australia has competed internationally since the 1948 London Olympic Games, and has qualified for all subsequent Olympic tournaments except Atlanta in 1996, and although not achieving the success of European teams, has remained relatively competitive at international level since.
In 1968, the team qualified to compete at the Mexico Olympic Games, but was denied entry by the Australian Olympic Federation.
Australia scored their first point in Olympic competition when they drew with Bulgaria in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.
The Australian team placed 5th in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, the highest Olympic placing so far, and finished 4th in the World Championships at home in Perth in 1998.
Australia's best international water polo success came in 1996, when the Sharks won the six-nation Control Cup in Hungary, and followed it up with a bronze medal at an eight nation tournament in Italy in the same year. However, they failed to qualify for that year's Olympics for the first time since 1948.
A reinvigorated youthful team managed to finish second to Canada in an international tournament in England in 2002, and in 2003, they beat then world champions Serbia 12–11 in a FINA Water Polo World League match in Hungary, and followed it up by beating Croatia 10–6 at the 2003 Water polo world championship in Barcelona, Spain.
Australia finished 2nd at the 2018 World Cup in Berlin, Germany.
At the 2020 Summer Olympics, Australia surprisingly beat former champion Croatia. Yet, the Australians were not to able progress through to the quarter finals, but still managed to clinch two wins out of their five games.
Tournament history A red box around the year indicates tournaments played within Australia
Olympic Games
Olympic Games recordYearRoundPosition 1900did not participate 1904 1908 1912 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948Group stages17th2002 1952Group stages17th2002 1956Group stages9th6105 1960Group stages15th3003 1964Group stages12th2002 1968qualified but did not compete 1972Group stages12th9027 1976Group stages11th8116 1980Group stages7th8512 1984Final Group stages5th8224 1988Group stages8th8305 1992Group stages5th8422 1996did not qualify 2000Group stages8th8125 2004Group stages9th8314 2008Group stages8th7313 2012Quarter-finals7th8305 2016Group stage9th5212 2020Group stage9th5203 2024Quarterfinals8th8314Total0 Titles18/28113331466
World Championship
1973 – 14th place 1975 – 11th place 1978 – 9th place 1982 – 11th place 1986 – 10th place 1991 – 8th place 1994 – 10th place 1998 – 4th place 2001 – 10th place 2003 – 7th place 2005 – 10th place 2007 – 10th place 2009 – 10th place 2011 – 9th place 2013 – 8th place 2015 – 8th place 2017 – 7th place 2019 – 6th place 2022 – 11th place 2023 – 10th place 2024 – 11th place 2025 – 13th place
World Cup
1981 – 7th place 1985 – 7th place 1989 – 7th place 1991 – 7th place 1993 – Bronze medal 1999 – 8th place 2010 – 6th place 2014 – 5th place 2018 – Silver medal 2026 – 4th place
World League
2003 – 7th place 2004 – 7th place 2005 – 11th place 2006 – 4th place 2007 – Bronze medal 2008 – Bronze medal 2009 – 6th place 2010 – 4th place 2011 – 6th place 2012 – 7th place 2014 – 4th place 2015 – 5th place 2016 – 5th place 2017 – 7th place 2018 – 6th place 2019 – Bronze medal 2022 – 7th place
Commonwealth Championship
1950 – Gold medal 2002 – Silver medal 2006 – Gold medal 2014 – did not participate
Team Current squad Roster for the 2025 World Championships.
Head coach: Timothy Hamill
1 Nick Porter 2 Angus Lambie 3 Miloš Maksimović 4 Charlie Negus 5 Nathan Power 6 Timothy Putt 7 Luka Krstic 8 Jacob Mercep 9 Matthew Byrnes 10 Marcus Berehulak 11 Sam Nangle 12 Tristan Glanznig 13 Laurence Barker 14 Andrej Grgurevic 15 Drew McJannett
Notable players Pietro Figlioli, 7x LEN Champions League winner Tom Hoad AM Thomas Whalan Nathan Thomas Aaron Younger, 4x LEN Champions League winner
See also Australia men's Olympic water polo team records and statistics Australia women's national water polo team
References
External links