Ross Kendall
The Byron Bay women’s water polo team, and the Mullumbimby men have both won their respective premierships, after a strong showing at the Alstonville pool on March 22, where they dominated both of their grand finals.
While the men have claimed the Far North Coast (FNC) Water Polo Championship three years in a row, the women secured two trophies from the last three seasons, after falling short last year.
‘The players are happy that we all managed to pull back the championship,’ Byron Bay’s Kerry Hardey said.
‘Last year we had a pretty new team’, she said.
‘This season, most of them played again so there was more cohesion, plus we had some more experienced players’.
The Byron Bull Sharks women took on Ballina in the grand final, and came away with a comfortable win, after leading for the whole game.
‘They were a young team but had some real up and comers. So it is great to see some quality players coming up through the ranks in the area,’ she said.
Hotly contested
‘The men’s final was hotly contested, with Mullum facing Alstonville’s top team ‘Equipo del Fuego’, who were the minor premiers, and the only team to have beaten Mullum through the season’s round games which started in October 2024,’ club stalwart, John Dixon, said.
Tense match
‘In a tense match, Mullum delivered a convincing win, gradually increasing their lead each quarter to end with a score of 12-7.
The Byron Bull Sharks and the Mullumbimby men train together at the Mullum Petria Thomas Pool during the season.
To finish off the summer season Byron Bay Water Polo is hosting the Byron 5’s, a short-form water polo competition, over the weekend of April 5–6.
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