Comeback wins headline seventh round of water polo season

Narrabri Dolphins Water Polo Club hosted the seventh round of its 2025/26 season on Friday at the Narrabri Aquatic Centre, where the senior competition ladder leaders bounced back from their first loss of the campaign with a win that kept them in the outright lead.

The PAB Power had their advantage at the top cut to two points when they went down to the Nutrien Crocs a week earlier in round six, and both of those teams were victorious in round seven to end the night in the top two.

The Power took down the SierraTek Sea Snakes 9-5 in the first senior game of the evening before the Crocs won an even closer contest as they got up 9-7 against the Santos Sea Pigs.

Both teams were forced to come from behind to get the job done.

Those results left PAB Power on top with 10 points following four wins, two draws and a loss, with the Crocs just a win behind them on eight points following four wins and three losses.

The Sea Pigs are third with six points following three wins and four losses, and the Sea Snakes are fourth with four points following a win, two draws and four losses.

The Power have scored a competition-best 49 goals across the first seven rounds, which is only one more than the sides ranked second and third, who have both scored 48. However, the Power’s solid defence is what has propelled them to the top of the table, having only conceded 34 goals compared to Nutrien’s 45 and Santos’ 49.

SierraTek have scored 34 goals and conceded 48 so far.

Power found themselves uncharacteristically behind at quarter-time in round seven on Friday as Sierra-Tek led 3-0 at the first break. However, hat-tricks to Karla Carruthers and Andrew McManus, a double to Paul Bushby and a Baxter Dalton goal led the top-ranked side to victory.

It was tied up at 4-all going into the last quarter, but the Power then showed their strength as they outscored their opponents five goals to one.

The other match saw Nutrien Crocs also come from behind to get the job done after they were behind 3-1 at quarter-time.

A Shona McFarland hat-trick in the second quarter had them in front at half-time, and they led 6-5 at three-quarter-time before outscoring the Sea Pigs three goals to two in the final term.

Liam Mair scored all seven of the Sea Pigs’ goals in a super individual performance.

The under-15s match kicked off the evening as usual, and the Bellevue Titans defeated the Club Narrabri Marlins 11-4.