Water Polo NSW’s Super League 2025-26 season began again this weekend. With new teams from entering out of state and abroad, this season promised to bring a lot of goals and plenty of drama. 

Just one game took place in both the women’s and men's leagues with UNSW Wests triumphant over Hunter Hurricanes in both games. 

Women 

Hunter Hurricanes 11 – 16 UNSW Wests  

UNSW Wests Women secured the first win of the Super League, meaning they finished the first week at the top of the table after winning away from home at Lambton Pool. 

Hunter Hurricanes used their home advantage and scored first, although it didn’t take long for UNSW Wests to draw level. 

It wasn’t until the second quarter when UNSW Wests first took the lead, but Hunter Hurricanes continued to fight back taking the teams level at half time. 

UNSW Wests started the second half strong, giving themselves a four-goal lead at the beginning of the third quarter.  

There wasn’t much stopping UNSW Wests then, adding to their lead, but Hunter Hurricanes continued to score to keep the goal difference at five goals.  

On starting their season with their new coach Hayley Ballesty, of UNSW Wests Women said: “It was our first game having Daniel as our coach, so we were just trying to concentrate on working together, as we had a lot of nerves for our first game of the season. 

“At half time we focused on ourselves, recompose and get ourselves ready for the second half.” 

Top scorer of the games, Dayna Garside, of Hunter Hurricanes Women,was happy with how her team started the season. “It’s a good place for our team to start the season. We came out strong, and in comparison to past seasons, this is a really good place for us to start. 

“Grant was brilliant in goal. She’s come a long way in the last season and starting where she is this season has been really great.  

“We dropped a little bit in the third quarter which we just spoke about in our team talk but coming back in the fourth and picking up again we know is something we will work on in our training sessions and going into the next couple of games as well. We know where we are going to start from and what we are going to build on.” 

Men 

Hunter Hurricanes 16 – 18 UNSW Wests 

UNSW Wests Men continued their winning ways after winning the GrandFinal at the end of last season, although Hunter Hurricanes kept them fighting until the end.  

LachlanMcLeod opened up the scoring for Hunter Hurricanes in the first 30 seconds of the game.Not long later Matthew Byrnes scored UNSW Wests’ first goal of the game. 

At half time it was still level at 8-8 as UNSW Wests had continued to fight back when Hunter had gone ahead. 

At the beginning of the second half UNSW Wests went ahead for the first time. At the end of the third quarter Hunter Hurricanes managed to pull it back to a draw, but after that UNSW Wests were ahead for the rest of the game. 

Top scorer of the match, Lachlan McLeod, Hunter Hurricanes Men said: “It’s been a long pre-season, we’ve all really backed each other coming into this first game. We have a young team coming into the super league so we are really stoked with the performance by everyone.  

“It was a hard game, we’ve been really focusing on our swimming at the moment so I think that played a really big factor. We came in with the attitude that we all play for each other, a lot of the boys stepped up today so I’mreally proud of their performance as well.” 

Talking about his recent move to UNSW Wests, Drew said: “UNSW Wests is a very historic club, they have got a lot of Premierships and league titles. I made the move to join my brother and I’m really enjoying it so far. Everyone has welcomed me with open arms and I’m really glad to be here. 

“The next game is against my old team, Sydney Uni, so it should be a good one, and hopefully we should have a few more players back from injury, so should be really good.” 

Following the game, Drew McJannett, of UNSW West Men said: “It was good to get the victory, it was very scrappy, but it was good to get the win but we have a lot of work to do. 

 “Hunter Hurricanes were very technical today, they were driving inside, playing double centre forward, which is a very unorthodox style of play. They were very passive in the first half, but it’s given us something to learn from and good to get a win at the end of the day.”  

Tim Reeves, Head Coach UNSW West Men said: “I really feel blessed to be in this role, it’s a good individual honour for me [to be Head Coach]. 

“For us today we had a good hit out, a bit rusty, obviously everyonehasn’t played in a little while, so just getting the cobwebs out.  

“Hopefully we will do well again this year so just building towards the end of December and AWL next year.  

“It was good to get the result, Hunter Hurricanes have got some good juniors, they've got a good country base which is good for them. 

“We are not playing the style we want just yet, but we have had around six boys making their debuts for the club, which was a really bighonour for them, I’m glad we could get them the win, but we have some work to do but good signs, for sure.  

“UNSW Wests has great players, there are great people like Paddy in the club and our senior guys that have come before us to lean on, which has been brilliant for me and my development as a coach. I’m really looking forward to the season ahead.” 

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