Second round of season for water polo club

Narrabri Aquatic Centre hosted the second round of Narrabri Dolphins Water Polo Club’s 2023/24 season on Sunday where two of the three games were tightly contested.

The under-14s sides were separated by just one goal for the second straight week as Kaputar edged out Namoi 13-12, and then in the senior games, Barwon downed Nandewar 12-4 before Wilga and Kurrajong played out a 7-all draw.

Kaputar’s thrilling win over Namoi was the side’s second in as many weeks after prevailing 10-9 against their opponents during the opening round.

In round two on Sunday, they were forced to come from behind as Namoi led 5-2 at the quarter-time break.

Kaputar then outscored Namoi four goals to two in both the second and third quarters to go into the final term ahead 10-9, and both teams scored three goals each in the fourth.

Namoi’s Chelsea Clarke was superb in a losing side, scoring eight of her team’s 12 goals.

She scored three in the first quarter, two more in the third and another three in the fourth, while Maddison Connole bagged a double and Oliver Ford and Lexie Fernance netted a goal each.

Kaputar’s first-quarter goals were scored by Elsie Bennett and Lachlan Dunn before their teammate Ruby Irwin starred in the second with four goals to help get her side within one point of the opposition at half-time.

Ruby, Martha Barton, Elke Collins and Ruby Greentree all scored a goal in the third quarter, and then Ruby, Martha and Ruby scored a goal each in the fourth.

In the senior competition, Barwon finished the day on top of the table with a maximum six points after they had become the only team out of the four to have won two matches across the first two rounds.

Dean Clarke dominated for them during their eight-goal victory as he had a hat-trick at quarter-time and then scored another in the second quarter and three more during the second half.

Lucas Clarke finished the game with a hat-trick after netting goals in the first, third and fourth quarters, while Melanie Clarke and Darcy Gleeson both scored a goal each in the second as their side went into the main break ahead 8-1.

For Nandewar, Pippy Donaldson and Harry Bennett bagged doubles.

Donaldson scored the side’s only first-half goal during the opening quarter and then netted her second in the third quarter. Bennett also scored in the third and added another in the fourth.

The second senior match of the day was a thriller as Wilga stormed home with four goals in the fourth quarter to draw the contest 7-all.

Kurrajong went into quarter-time ahead 2-1 after Nick Brennan and Stacey Dunn found the back of the net, led 5-2 at half-time after Dunn, Matilda Wallington and Louise Tout scored in the second quarter, and then entered the final term with a 6-3 lead after Jake Bussell claimed their only goal of the third quarter.

For Wilga, Sophie Donatini scored once in each quarter to keep her team in the game.

The trailing side then charged home with four goals in the fourth as Sam Donaldson, Caitlin Potts, Paul Bushby and Karla Carruthers all scored one goal each, while Kurrajong were only able to find the back of the net once through Brennan as the entertaining contest finished 7-all.

Those two sides are still winless after the second round of the season after they both lost their respective round one matches.

They have both accumulated three points and trail first-placed Barwon (6) and second-placed Nandewar (4) narrowly on the ladder.

The round three contests scheduled for this Sunday, October 22, will see Barwon challenge Wilga at 1.10pm, and Nandewar challenge Kurrajon at 2pm, after the junior game kicks off the day from midday.