Sharks 'happy to take underdog tag' ahead of blockbuster World Cup

Australian Sharks relishing underdog tag at World Aquatics Water Polo World Cup Finals in Sydney Thu 23 Jul 2026 at 10:16am Australia's men's water polo team are set to take on some of the biggest teams on the planet this week at the World Aquatics Water Polo World Cup Finals. The Sharks get their campaign underway on Thursday evening against the most daunting of opponents, reigning world champions Spain. For most, the sight of the world champions lining up poolside at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre would send shivers down your spine. The Sharks, though, are not familiar with being daunted by anyone. "I think if you were to ask anyone else in the world outside of our group, they would call us underdogs," goalkeeper Nic Porter told ABC Sport during the Sharks' pre-tournament training camp on the Gold Coast. "But I think you ask any one of us in our group, we'd give you a very different answer. "As Australians, as we all know, we're more than happy to take the underdog tag. I actually think Australians relish that. "We'll take the underdog tag, that's fine, we understand where we're ranked in the world. "But I also remember where we were ranked in the world in Paris 2024 and what happened there." Paris run and quarterfinal pain fuelling drive for LA Ah yes, the Paris Olympics. There, the Sharks made a pledge to stun the world and, by and large, they did just that. Eventual gold medallists Serbia were beaten by the staggering scoreline of 8-3 in the group stages. "The way we approached the game against Serbia was, we had no fear," Porter said. "And I think we must do the same in this tournament. "The key for us and everything that we're focusing on now is those first four minutes against Spain. "Dominate those first four minutes and then let's have a look at the rest of the game after that. "I think if we can start really hot with a home crowd backing us, supporting us, giving us a bit of extra energy, I think it's going to be a really difficult night for the Spanish. "And we're certainly going to be doing everything we can to make it as difficult as possible for them." The Serbia game was not even the high point for Australia in Paris. Hungary, the nine-time champions and most successful nation in the history of men's water polo at the Olympics, and hosts France were also beaten, by identical 9-8 scorelines. The world could safely be considered to have been suitably shocked, especially the French, who were backed by an enormously parochial crowd at the Paris Aquatic Centre. "That was a special night, the French night," coach Tim Hamill recalls. "Among others, that was really special." Tim Putt, who has returned to the squad after narrowly missing out in Paris, noted that the victory against the French was a real litmus test on how far the Australians had come in a relatively short space of time. "For that Paris cycle, one of the great metrics I look at is France," the 27-year-old said. "France was always our crossover game where we had to beat them to go through in the tournament and for like the first three tournaments we always just lost. "But we all knew we could still beat them and we were gonna beat them next time. "We had an official training match against them at the start of the Paris tour and we lost I think and then, leading into the Olympics, we were playing really good games, we came second at a tournament in Serbia and in the Olympics we had France as our last group game. "I thought, 'Oh, they're going to pump them, they're going to absolutely pump them,' and they did. "It took three years to show on the scoreboard what we were doing, but it did show in the end." Alas, that victory against the French was the pinnacle of the Games for the Aussies, who fell in a heartbreaking quarterfinal defeat to the USA on penalties. "That was the one, that's the heartbreaker," Hamill said. "That's the one that we still lose a little bit of sleep over — and I say that only half jokingly. "It was a huge moment for us that we ultimately didn't grab to its full potential at the time, but we got huge learnings out of that. "We were one shot away from playing for Olympic medal, but we've learned from that, we've taken a huge number of lessons from that and we intend to use those for Sydney World Cup and as we get close to the LA Olympic Games." 'The next big Everest' Hamill has been coach of the Sharks since 2021, taking over from Croatian international Elvis Fatović after the Tokyo Games. The quarterfinal appearance at the 2024 Olympics was a spectacular high point of his tenure so far. However, Hamill was clear that he only sees Australia improving on the way to Los Angeles in 2028, and beyond to the Brisbane 2032 Games. "We know that on our day we can beat any team in the world, but doing it consistently across a tournament like the World Cup in Sydney or the upcoming Olympic Games is the next big step for us, that's probably the next big Everest for this group," Hamill said. "The Sydney World Cup provides a great opportunity for some really high-level international exposure and we'll back-end our investment to make sure that 2027 and 2028 are heavily towards getting enough games. "We're a long way away from the home of water polo [southern Europe], so we've got to get over there and get that international dosage over the next couple of years." Skipper Nathan Power, who played a key role in the Sharks' run to the Olympic quarterfinals in Paris, noted that the time to switch on and take the next step was now. "I think as a country, we've always done a really good job of being up and ready to go when it gets to a major tournament," Power said. "But if we want to be, I guess, in Olympic terms, taken seriously as a second-week team, it really is a matter of starting to string together these results into a complete tournament. "For us, there's a mental resilience thing there. While we can lean into the joys we had from Paris, we can also lean into the heartbreak we had there too. "The stage we're getting to here [at the World Cup] starts at the quarterfinal stage and the quarterfinals is where we fell down in Paris, so even that in itself is a good pick-up point to start and coming forward with a positive result this time round." The Sydney World Cup offers a fantastic opportunity for Australia to compete on home soil and use a home advantage that is rarely available to them. But Hamill noted that it's not just about getting results at this tournament, but continuing to build. "High-performance sport and Olympic sport will always be about outcomes," Hamill said. "We haven't hidden from the fact that what we want to achieve in LA is significant, we want it to be more than Paris. "But for us as a group, there is more to it than that. "This program has struggled for a number of years to get some traction in sport, so having a stand full at the Sydney World Cup, with young boys and young girls and families and inspiring the next generation and legacy and program depth, they're all really, really important for this team. "The players themselves talk about leaving the cap in a better place moving forward, so legacy is a word that's come a lot through this group. "So yes, we want to achieve what we want to achieve in Sydney World Cup and LA and hopefully beyond. "But we're trying to build something long-term and sustainable with this water polo program in this country." Sharks call on crowd to bring the passion Ticket sales for the World Cup have been hugely promising according to Water Polo Australia, setting the stage for what should be an electric atmosphere poolside over the next five days. "My concern is that a lot of it's going to be for the Greeks and the Hungarians and the other countries," Hamill said, half-jokingly. He probably has cause to be concerned. Water polo is a huge deal in Europe and by all accounts, the expat communities of those nations in Sydney are set to really embrace the tournament as a rare chance to see their heroes in the flesh. "That's probably the thing that we're probably the most excited for," Porter said. "For us, when we go overseas and we play against these European countries or even America or Japan or wherever we play, we've always faced such a passionate home crowd that are cheering against us, and that can be pretty daunting sometimes, particularly when you go into some of these European nations where water polo is the number one sport. "It can be very hostile there sometimes. So for us, we're hoping to create a bit of a hostile environment for our opponents. "We want to have some deafening support, we want the classic Aussie spirit on display in the stands because we really feel like that'll help push the men's and women's teams over the line. "We really can't wait to see a sea of green and gold in the stands, Australians love to get rowdy in a respectful way and support the athletes, and we can't wait to see that transferred over to water polo in a couple of weeks." Marcus Berehulak noted that although crowds in major events such as the LEN Champions League Final Four were "hectic," that energy could be beneficial to everyone. "It's pretty crazy, some of those events, especially Final Four, you've got flares and banners and everything chucked into the pool and whatnot in the end," he said. "It's definitely a hostile environment." Hamill noted that Porter, who played in Greece for Panionios last year and has just signed for French powerhouse Marseille, is one player who relishes a frenetic atmosphere. "Nic's a really great example of utilising energy from the crowd and family support to make you perform, he wears his heart on his sleeve. "It's not for everyone, playing up to the crowd, but the tournament that he put together at Paris was, from a goalkeeping point of view, as good as you'll see and that reflected in our results." 'Underdog' Sharks aim to use the home support Hamill was aware that all the players were pumped about playing on home soil. "Sharing those [ticket sale] numbers with the players, you can see the excitement on their faces," Hamill said. "Knowing that we're going to have big crowds at home is really exciting for everyone. "There's often a desire for teams to not get caught up in that emotion and the hype, but often being very much the underdog team that we are, including like we were in Paris, I think of it a little bit differently in terms of finding moments, opportunities. "We can utilise that energy and crowd noise and not avoid it. "Everyone talks about ignoring the distractions of the Olympic Games, but I'm more about embracing those so-called distractions and how they can provide momentum for teams, which is something I think we did incredibly well in Paris and we intend to do the same in Sydney. "We won't avoid the distractions, we won't avoid the people and moments, we'll open our doors to all of that." Power agreed, noting that embracing the pressure had worked well for the team at the Olympics. "It's something which as a team we've consciously been trying to do a lot more," Power said. "In the lead into Paris and beyond there was a 'smell the roses' and take a moment to appreciate those very cool things that you get to experience. "Some people might view it as a distraction. Instead, you're acknowledging that thing is there and then you're using that to have a positive impact on you. "It would be silly to go, 'Oh, we're not going to think about it too much,' we're going to be in a crowd full of people cheering for us, which is something very special. "We've had some really wonderful experiences with the crowds in Brisbane and Perth and now in Sydney, to get a chance to really turn it on in a very iconic venue for Australian sport too. "It's certainly not lost on us how important that'll be."