NSWIS dominates Men’s Water Polo squad for Rio

The NSWIS has dominated the selection table for Australia’s Men’s Water Polo squad for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games with eight players selected in the 13-man squad.

Joel Dennerley, Richie Campbell, Johno Cotterill, Mitchell Emery, Jarrod Gilchrist, Joe Kayes, Nathan Power and Aidan Roach have all been selected from the NSWIS.

Never before has the Australian Men’s Water Polo team claimed a medal at the Olympic Games, but everyone from the Coach to the Captain admits it is not out of reach.

Head Coach Elvis Fatovic knows what it takes to win a medal at the Olympic Games, a dual Olympian for Croatia and assistant Coach for Croatia when they seized the Olympic gold medal in London.

Fatovic took the helm of the Australian team in 2013 and said there are at least 10 countries who are right in the mix for a medal, Australia included.

“In my opinion there are 10 countries who could win a medal and I believe we are one of them.  It will come down to how teams react under pressure,” said Fatovic.

“We might have a number of news faces but I believe the 13 players we have assembled are the best in Australia.

“The difference for this team compared to previous teams is that we will have two centre forwards in the line-up, which is new for us.  We will need to be fast and adaptive to be competitive in every game,” he said.

 “We are certainly chasing a medal,” added captain Rhys Howden, in what will be his third Olympics. 

“What we need to do is treat every game as a must win, knowing that once we get in the water we are the same team, the pool size in the same, the ball is the same – we have to treat it like another international tournament.” 

Howden alongside Richie Campbell and James Stanton-French will head to their third Olympic Games in Rio.  They are joined by London Olympians Joel Dennerley, Aaron Younger, Johnno Cotterill and Aidan Roach.

Lining up for their first Olympic Games is Nathan Power, George Ford, Jarrod Gilchrist, Joel Swift, Joe Kayes and Mitchell Emery.

For Power, it was the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games that ignited his passion as a seven-year-old to one day represent Australia at an Olympics.

“We went to Sydney 2000 to the athletics track and Sydney Olympic Park – I still remember that day so vividly like it was yesterday. As an Aussie kid it was pretty special to have the Olympics in your home country and I knew in that moment I wanted to one day compete for my country at the Olympic Games,” said Power.

“There was certainly a lot of anticipation waiting for the phone call to find out if I made the team.  Now it’s all about being able to help the team achieve something special.

“I had the opportunity to live and play in Rio last year and I have to say it is such a vibrant city, it truly was a wonderful experience.

“They (Brazil) are a sports crazed nation I think the Olympics in Rio will be something special.  We face Brazil in the opening game and that is certainly going to be something incredible to play against them in front of their home crowd.

“Brazil is a team we are familiar with, we’ve played them at almost every FINA tournament so we know what to expect,” he said.

The men’s water polo competition begins on August 6 at the Maria Lenk Aquatic Center in Barra da Tijuca, where the Aussies will be one of twelve nations competing for Olympic gold.