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The National Water Polo Club Championships were held in Brisbane in September/October and Blueys had their up and coming goalie Connie Gorham drafted to the UNSW teams for the week to compete. |
BLUEYS Player shines at Nationals
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The National Water Polo Club Championships were held in Brisbane in September/October and Blueys had their up and coming goalie Connie Gorham drafted to the UNSW teams for the week to compete. |
Gold and Silver for Blueys Men
On Tuesday the 18th of September, both Blueys mens teams played at Ryde Pool in the 2009 Winter Grand Finals.
The night started with the M5 team up against a much older and more experienced Sydney Uni side. The Blueys guys started the game well and gave SU a good run for their money in the first quarter. Unfortunately for the Blueys, the Sydney Uni guys just had too much know how in the pool and they outplayed the Blueys guys for the rest of the game. Goalkeeper, Simon Dwyer made some brilliant saves, Sam Ballhause had a great game in both attack and defence and the rest of the team tried really hard to defend the strong SU outfit. The Blueys guys went down fighting, losing 7-3, goals scored by Sam Ballhause, Michael Hyslop and Sam Walton. The M5 team this season was Simon Dwyer, Michael Hyslop, Sam Walton, Pat Berrell, Bob Lovatt, Sam Ballhause, Craig Spriggs, Nathan Spriggs, Robbie Trotter, Phil Golding, Brad Millevoi and Chris Taylor.
Next up was the nailbiting M4 game, Blueys vs Ryde. These 2 teams have some history, so the game was always going to be a good one – especially for the spectators. Both teams came out firing and scored some great goals early in the game. The Blueys rushed a couple of attacking opportunities which cost them possession, but they managed to defend well and limit Ryde’s scoring ability. 3 all at half time and spectators were on the edge of their seats for the remainder of the match. Both teams went into the 4th quarter still at 3 goals each and with just under a minute remaining, the scores were tied at 4 a piece. A brilliant Blueys goal gave the boys a 5-4 lead with just 45 seconds remaining on the clock. A risky play when all we had to do was protect the ball, almost let Ryde back in, but the brains of Wayne Thompson saw the Blueys guys hold the ball for the last 20 seconds, robbing Ryde of another attacking opportunity. The Blueys mens 4th grade team won the game 5-4. It was great to see the boys keep their cool even when a couple of decisions went against them. Danny Armour played another outstanding game in goals, making some crucial saves. Chris Artini and Wayne Thompson really stood out on the field and Steve Winfield was the strongest centre forward of the night, earning some great exclusions. Blueys goals scored by Michael Malone 2, Ben Morgan, Chris Armour and Chris Artini. The M4 team this season was Danny Armour, Ben Morgan, Wayne Thompson, Greg Malone, Chris Artini, Pete Dennis, Michael Malone, Matt Berrell, Stephen Winfield, Chris Armour and Matt Heyhoe.
Both teams would like to thank all the wonderful Blueys spectators who made the trek to Ryde on Tuesday night to show their support. It really helped to lift the spirits of the boys in the water. Making the grand final for both mens teams was a huge achievement. The M5 guys really improved as the season progressed. They were lead in the water by Goalie Simon Dwyer and strong Centre forward Michael Hyslop. The younger members of the team really stepped up and proved themselves in each and every game, particularly Sam Walton and Pat Berrell. This was the first Grand Final for a lot of these players and they really performed well.
The M4 guys had a brilliant season, only losing 1 game in round 12. New Blueys Wayne Thompson and Chris Artini became an integral part of the team. Greg Malone and Pete Dennis were always reliable on the field in both attack and defence and Danny Armour had an amazing season in goals.Thanks to Greg Malone, Pete Dennis and Bob Lovatt who have played a strong role in the clubs success by coaching the boys teams throughout this winter season.
CONGRATULATIONS TO BLUEYS U16s PLAYER – TAYLOR LEONARD
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Taylor has been selected in the NSW U16s Waratahs team to travel to New Zealand from the 8th-12th of July this year. GOOD LUCK! |
Australian Country Water Polo Championship Results
The Australian Country Water Polo Championships were held in Canberra in May and Blueys had 4 players representing our club as part of NSW Country teams this year.
Ben Morgan, Greg Malone and Danny Armour all played for the NSW Country mens team and Courtney Finlay played for the NSW Country ladies team.
It was a tough week of competition for both teams. The NSW girls won their games against WA, Victoria and the ADF team, but lost their round game against ACT. The mens team won their games against WA, Queensland, Victoria, ADF and ACT 2, but they lost against ACT 1. The strong performances through the round games, took both NSW teams into the semi finals at Tuggeranong Pool on the Friday and both teams played Queensland. Both Qld teams came out fighting and played strong for 3 quarters of the game, but the NSW men really took control in the last half to take a huge 21-12 win and the NSW women played a strong 4th quarter to win 17-12.
Both Grand Final matches were to be played on Saturday against ACT. The womens game was first and it was tough, although the first half of the match was a bit slow with not many goals scored and a more of a defensive game being played by both sides. ACT led the game at half time 4-3. But NSW came back in the third quarter, scoring two solid goals and keeping ACT to 4. It was three goals from ACT in the final stage of the game that put them over the line and handed the girls their second Gold medal in as many years at the Australian Country Championships. A good performance all week by the NSW girls saw them take home the Silver Medal. Courtney played strong water polo all tournament and was particularly strong defensively.
The final game for the day and the tournament was the gold medal mens game – NSW vs ACT. Both teams came out firing, but with solid defence and attack in the centre forward, ACT had 10 points on the board by half time, NSW on 5. The third quarter was very exciting, with lots of extra man play and some great outside shooting, NSW clawed back at the ACT lead. But it wasn't NSW's day and ACT were too strong in the end, taking the gold by one point, winning 13-12. Danny had some strong performances in goals all week, in particular the semi final match and the games against Victoria and ADF and he played really well in the 2nd half of the grand final. Greg and Ben both improved as the week progressed and had some great scoring opportunities. They both scored some really strong goals against some of the best players from the Country areas of Australia.
The biggest & most pleasant surprise for the week was the selection of Blueys players Greg Malone in the Australian Country Squad. Due to his strong performances in the pool throughout the tournament, Greg has been selected as a reserve in the 20 man squad that will head to Hawaii in July.
Congratulations to all our Blueys players for making the club proud.
CONGRATULATIONS to all BLUEYS PLAYERS selected for Representative Teams this Summer
NSW Country Open Mens NSW U17s Country Squad NSW U16s
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NSW U14s NSW U13s Development Squad NSW Country Open Ladies Australian Country Open Mens Squad |
Summer CITY COMPETITION
BLUEYS Ladies Grand Final Results - Summer 2009
All Three Senior Blue Mountains Water Polo Ladies teams played in Grand Finals last Sunday at Ryde Pool. The Ladies 4th grade team were the only team to come away with a gold medal, but all teams put in a good effort, with 1 goal being the difference in all 3 results.
Ladies 5th grade played first against Macquarie Uni A. The Mac Uni team got off to a good start, scoring 2 goals in the first 2 minutes, but the Blueys girls kept on putting in and bought the score back to 3-2 at the end of the first quarter. There was no more than a goal difference in it for the remainder of the game, with a final score of 10 all taking the girls into an extra time “golden goal” period. The pressure was on as its “first goal wins” and unfortunately for Blueys, Mac Uni put a strong outside shot away to win the game 11-10. It was a great team game by the Blueys girls, Beth Salmon played a phenomenal game in both attack and defence and Vickey Gorham made some good saves in goals. Taylor Leonard scored some important goals and Alaine Watson played really well in attack and defence. Blueys goals scored by Taylor Leonard 4, Beth Salmon 3, Bonnie-Rae Phoebe, Emma Smith and Alaine Watson.
The Ladies 4th grade team also played a strong team game, with the girls covering for each other in defence and making the right passing options in attack. A few poor defensive decisions early in the game allowed Drummoyne to score a couple of easy goals, but the second half of the game was much stronger for the Blueys. Unfortunately, the game still resulted in a 5 all draw at full time. Again, we had another game with an extra time “golden goal” period. With all spectators on the edge of their seats, Drummoyne won the swim off to have the first attack, but some good defence and a great save by goal keeper Ashley Weston put Blueys on the attack. The girls moved the ball up the pool quickly and gave a great pass to Mikala McConnell who had a break directly in front of goals. Mikala put the ball past the keeper to win the game for Blueys 6-5. Blueys goals scored by Louise Moodie 2, Erin Moodie 2, Kristy Stanton and Mikala McConnell.
The Ladies 3rd grade team were the final game of the night against old time rivals Drummoyne (the old St George girls). The Blueys let Drummoyne get off to a good start in the first half – with Drummoyne up 7-4 at half time, but Blueys put in a gutsy effort to fight back in the last half and managed to keep Drummoyne scoreless in the last quarter. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite enough and Blueys lost the game 9-8. Jill Doyle was brilliant in attack, earning many exclusions for the Blueys and making some crucial passes that lead to goals being scored. Lorinda Gobbo was also strong in attack and Alexis Byrne was fantastic in defence. Blueys goals scored by Lorinda Gobbo 3, Claire Groves 2, Jill Doyle, Stef Camden and Elissa Piper. Although this was a disappointing loss, it was a great achievement for this team to even make the Grand Final and the girls should be very proud of their efforts.
The week earlier, the Under 14s and the Under 16s played their Grand Final matches at Ryde Pool, both against SNB. The Under 14s started the day with a close match, Michaela Piper player strong defence on SNB’s strongest attacking player, while the rest of the Blueys girls attacked hard. The girls played really well as a team with Nicole Moodie, Megan Moodie and Renay Vreeken making a number of important steals. In the first quarter the girls were down 2-0, but they came back strong at the back end to win the game 6-4. Goals scored by Renay Vreeken 2, Megan Moodie 2, Sophie Fischer and Nicole Moodie.
The Under 16s were up next in what was a nail biting game. 2 all at half time, 3 all at 3 quarter time, the girls went into the last quarter pumped and defended well. Blueys managed to score the only goal of the 4th quarter (thank you Taylor) to win the game 4-3. This team has had an amazing year, losing a lot of players at the beginning of the season and starting almost from scratch – they have built themselves into a great little unit and they play well together week in, week out. A great game by all, goals scored by Taylor Leonard 2, Erin Moodie and Nicole Moodie.
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Blueys Under 14s. |
Blueys Under 16s. Gold Medalists. |
Blueys L3s. Silver Medalists. |
Blueys L4s. Gold Medalists. |
Blueys L5s. Silver Medalists. |
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In fact, all the Blueys girls should be impressed with their achievements this season. With 5 out 5 girls teams making the Grand Finals, 3 gold medals and 2 silvers is something to be extremely proud of.Also, Congratulations must go Blueys players who have been selected in Rep squads this season. Erin Moodie and Taylor Leonard who were last week selected to in the NSW Under 16s squad, Nicole Moodie and Renay Vreeken who were selected in the NSW U14s squad, Mikaela Piper and Megan Moodie who were selected in the NSW U13s Development squad, Greg Malone, Ben Morgan, Danny Armour and Courtney Finlay who were selected in the NSW Country teams and Beth Salmon, Taylor Leonard, Connie Gorham and Erin Moodie who have been selected in the NSW U17s Country squad. Well done Blueys on a wonderful season.Click here for Team lists or All Match Reports
Click here for the NSW Waterpolo Website to view the draw
WEDNESDAY NIGHT COMP SUMMER 2008/09
Grand Final NightLast Wednesday night, the Grand final games for all grades were called off due to severe lightning and thunderstorms in the area.
With the unavailabilty of Glenbrook Pool, the electronic scoreboard and other committments for most players involved, the committee were unable to reschedule the Grand Finals.
The committee have declared that the highest placed team (at the completition of the competition rounds) of the two teams who qualified for the Grand Final be declared the Champions. Therefore, congratulations to the Champions and Runners Up in each grade:
Junior Champions : Victory Runners
Runners Up : Vegemite Kids
B Grade Champions : Spartans
Runners Up : Replacements
A Grade Champions : Team2 (Ben)
Runners Up : Team3 (Matt)For Info: - click here for Junior Results or click here Senior Results or here for Match Reports.
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NSW U18s Club Championship Report
Earlier this month the NSW Under 18s Club Championships were held at Ryde Pool and the Blueys girls entered a team. Its tough competition and we knew we were not going to be competitive, but it was a great learning experience for the girls and they enjoyed themselves at the same time.
The team was Louise Moodie, Erin Moodie, Connie Gorham, Anna-Lise Phoebe, Taylor Leonard, Larissa Moore, Emma Smith, Caitlin Berrell and Beth Salmon. They all played well throughout the weekend – Beth, Louise and Erin were absolute stand outs on the field and Goalkeeper Connie saved a huge amount of goals over the 3 days.
The highlight of the weekend was the win against the Tamworth team on Saturday. Tamworth got off to a good start and were up 4-1 at halftime. A lot of guts and determination saw the Blueys team fight their way back in to the match to be 4 all towards the end of the game, with Beth Salmon putting 1 last goal away with just 2 seconds remaining on the game clock. Blueys won 5-4. Congratulations to the girls for a huge effort and never giving up.
NSW Country Club Championships 2008/09
Gold, Silver and Bronze at Country for Blueys
NSW Country Club Water Polo Championships were held in Albury on the Australia Day Long Weekend. Blue Mountains Water Polo entered 3 teams.
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Congratulations to the 3 teams that competed at the NSW Country Champs last weekend in Albury. Our Mens B team finished in 1st place, our Ladies A team finished in 2nd place and our Ladies B team finished in 3rd place. A great results overall.
Click here for the full report or here for more Photos
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