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Crocodiles highest scorers in comp

David EckhartThe West Australian
The 2019 Hedland Croc's Waterpolo team.
Camera IconThe 2019 Hedland Croc's Waterpolo team. Credit: Alissa Cleo French

The Port Hedland Crocodiles earned the title of highest scoring team in the men’s tournament at the 2019 Water Polo WA Country Championships in Busselton over the long weekend.

The Crocodiles were one of seven teams in the men’s competition, facing teams from Bunbury, Geraldton, Peel (Mandurah), Busselton, and two teams from Karratha.

Having flown down on Friday morning the Crocodiles’ first match was against eventual champions Bunbury, going down nine goals to 10, with Bunbury’s winning goal right on the final buzzer.

Hedland’s goals in this match came from Brad Horsman, Reece Cirulis, Regan Kubala, Liam Chittleborough, Blake Cirulis, and Brad Pawlenko.

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With the last game on the roster on Friday night followed by the first game on Saturday, the Crocodiles’ discipline was tested, but they came away with a 6-6 draw against Karratha A, with Jonathon Nowers snaring a hat-trick.

Next up were the eventual runners-up from Geraldton, and while the Crocs were beaten 6-9, they showed last year’s silver medal was no mere flash-in-the-pan effort.

Having played twice before midday on day two, the Crocodiles had a five-hour wait for their third and final game on Saturday — a game in which they flexed their muscle with a 12-1 thrashing of Karratha B, with Horsman snaring five goals.

After two days of competition, Hedland had one win, a draw and two losses on their result sheet, with games against hosts Busselton and Peel to come on Sunday.

The Crocodiles posted two wins on the Sunday, finishing the tournament in third place with three wins, one draw, and two losses to the teams which made it to the final.

The team put 51 balls into opposition nets over the six games, with goal-scoring machines Horsman and Nowers finishing with 12 and 11 goals respectively.

At the conclusion of the tournament, Water Polo WA announced the all-star team from the weekend, with Daniel Lacey and Nowers included.

Water Polo WA also revealed the 2020 championships will be hosted by Hedland.

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