A youthful New Zealand men's water polo side will chase their first win over Australia in more than 30 years in the Oceania Olympic qualifiers this weekend.
The series, to be held at Henderson's West Wave Aquatic Centre , will be the first time New Zealand has hosted
the qualifiers. The winner earns a direct route to next year's Beijing Olympics.
It will be a David and Goliath battle for the home side though, with the Australians having played at every Olympics since 1956 except 1996 when they failed to qualify under a different system.
The Australians will field a strong team with several members of their squad playing professionally in Europe.
The Kiwi team is young and relatively inexperienced at international level.
Veterans such as Rob Tindall, Shaun Venter and Matthew Payne have all retired in the past year, while Lachie Tijsen, who has been playing professionally in Europe, will miss the series as he has shoulder surgery.
The recent retirements has left the door open for a raft of youngsters to make their senior debut - with five players under 20.
The pressure is now on "old hands" David Broome and Zoltan Boros, a former Hungarian national, to lead the side.
The three-test series starts on Friday night.
* NEW ZEALAND TEAM
John Love, Chris Naylor, Maui Whaitiri, David Broome, Zoltan Boros, Jonathan Ross, Eamon Lui, Conor Lui, Daniel Jackson, Matthew Reid, Johnathon Ware, Ben Pye, Adam Cunliffe.
THE MATCHES
Best of three, West Wave Aquatic Centre, Henderson.
Friday 8pm; Saturday 7pm; Sunday 1.30pm
