Sydney University Water Polo

The 2026 East Coast Challenge wrapped up yesterday in Melbourne, with 12 Sydney Uni Lions proudly representing NSW across five ungraded teams. We love seeing our Lions earn the opportunity to wear their State colours and test themselves against the best from across Australia.

🥈 NSW Blues Girls – Silver Medal Winners
Mar Alfaro • Amy Su

🥉 NSW Boys Waratahs – Bronze Medal Winners
Jamie Irvine • Thomas Penny • Aodhan Taylor

🥉 NSW Girls Waratahs – Bronze Medal Winners
Piper Kreiss • Alexa Wilson-Smith

💙 NSW Boys Blues – 4th Place
George Nixon • Lachlan Ong • Leo Song • Jake Winder

💛 NSW Boys Opals – 7th Place
Duke Wilkerson

While the medals were a great reward for the Girls Blues and both Waratahs teams, the true success of the tournament was the growth shown by every athlete. Our players embraced the challenge of new teammates, new coaches and a different team environment, developing their skills, confidence and understanding of the game against strong interstate competition.

Experiences like the East Coast Challenge play an important role in building the future of our sport, creating opportunities for young athletes to learn, compete and form lasting friendships both in and out of the pool.

A special thanks to Water Polo Australia & Water Polo Victoria for delivering a fantastic tournament, and to Water Polo NSW for their leadership, coaching and support of our teams throughout the weekend. We’d also like to thank Michael Hebden Michael Hebden for all the fantastic images captured throughout the tournament, helping showcase our Lions in action!

LIONS ROAR!!! 🦁💙💛

The 2026 World Aquatics Men’s U18 World Championships have wrapped up, and Sydney Uni was proud to have five Lions representing three nations on the world stage.

💙💛 Ashton Brown, Jake Cox, Toby Gould (Australia)
💙💛 Russell Yuan (Singapore)
💙💛 Nick Shelby (New Zealand)

Here’s how our Lions fared in Rio Maior, Portugal:

🇦🇺 AUSTRALIA – 13th Place
Australia finished with an outstanding 5-1 record, recording impressive victories over South Africa, Argentina, Singapore, Hong Kong and Brazil. While the final placing may not fully reflect the quality of their performances throughout the tournament, the team showcased its talent, resilience and potential on the international stage. Every strong performance at this level helps build Australia’s standing in world water polo, laying an even stronger foundation for future teams to compete, climb the rankings and achieve even greater success at future World Championships.

🇸🇬 SINGAPORE – 15th Place
Singapore capped off an outstanding tournament with a thrilling 22-19 victory over Colombia to secure 15th place among the world’s top U18 nations.The team demonstrated resilience, determination and continual improvement throughout the competition, collecting valuable international experience against some of the strongest junior programs in the world.

🇳🇿 NEW ZEALAND – 9th Place
A historic result, securing New Zealand’s best-ever finish at a Men’s World Championship.The Kiwis defeated four of the five opponents they faced during the tournament, with their only major setback coming against defending champions Hungary. After suffering a heartbreaking one-goal loss to Türkiye earlier in the event, they responded when it mattered most, defeating Türkiye 15-14 in the classification match to secure ninth place.

Congratulations to all five Lions on representing their countries with distinction. The entire Sydney Uni Water Polo family is incredibly proud of you. 🌍🦁

Well done to all our Lions 🦁

What a morning for our LIONESSES
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