Australian Men's B '94 Team for FINA World Youth Championships
December 1-9, Challenge Stadium, Perth
The Australian Born '94 team for the FINA World Youth Championships
Head coach Chris Wybrow has named an extended team of 14 to represent Australia at the FINA World Youth Water Polo Championships to be held in Perth in December.
The Australian Born '94 team features an array of talent from all over the country and includes players who have played in the National Water Polo League as well as with the Australian Born '93 squad.
The final team of 13 players will be announced a few days out from the world championships, with all 14 to train right through to December.
Wybrow, who has been on the coaching staff with the Aussie Sharks as well as being head coach at the NSWIS, said he was proud of all the players' efforts during the selection process and gave credit to those who had missed out.
"The 14 that I have selected for the FINA World Youth Championships have been chosen based on their performances over the past 12 months," Wybrow said.
"They have demonstrated a great work ethic towards our training programs and to the development of their skills.
"They have also formed great relationships with their teammates and have displayed the attitude needed to succeed at this elite level.
"Unfortunately for Will Dayman and Luca Albano they have been left out of the team. Both boys were very popular with the squad and they have been very professional with their commitments."
Australia will play New Zealand, South Africa, Colombia and Croatia in the group stages of the tournament and Wybrow believes his team has what it takes to go all the way.
"Everything's been really good. We've just had a camp against the Born '93 team and they're a really physical group so it's been great practice for us to realise how physical we have to be in the water," he said.
"The improvement I've seen in the players over the past 12 months has been quite dramatic so the world championships have been a really good goal for the boys to work towards.
"We have a tough group with our first match against European champions Croatia, but a strong match against them will give us a good indication of where we are at for the rest of the tournament.
"Hopefully we can play to our potential during the week and use the big home crowd to our advantage and get the gold."
The Aussie boys will travel to Perth in the week leading up to the tournament where they will play training matches against Hungary, Croatia and Serbia before starting their campaign on December 1 against Croatia.
The tournament will be held at the Challenge Stadium, Perth and will continue through until December 9.