Young Border water polo stars have proven regional teams have what it takes to match it with the larger city centres.
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The Ovens and Murray under-14 girls team achieved one of the best results the association has seen, placing fourth at the Australian Youth Water Polo Championships last week.
The O and M representative side came extremely close to taking out the bronze medal match in Brisbane, going down by one goal to the Cronulla Sharks in a sudden death penalty shootout, with Western and Queensland playing off in the gold medal match.
While the girls side took out the championship title around a decade ago, no Border team has come this close since.
Coach Kristy Hogan said it was a huge achievement by the up-and-coming water polo stars.
"When we came up last year we were ranked 22nd, so to get fourth was amazing," Hogan said.
"We had an interview with Water Polo Australia before we left and we were hoping just to make the top 15, so to get top four in Australia and second in NSW for all of our little country girls is great.
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"We've been working really hard.
"Obviously because we don't have the facilities here over winter, we've been travelling to Canberra and joining their competition to try and keep up to speed with all of the Sydney sides.
"We've just been training wherever we can as much as we can to try and show the city teams that we're still here.
"Us country teams just try to play in as many tournaments as we can to try and get game play and match fitness before we get there."
The under-14 girls will now prepare to compete at state level in April, with Hogan holding high hopes the talented juniors can go one better.
She admits the future of water polo is looking strong in the North East.
"The future is very bright for these young kids," she said.
"They're just willing to put in the hard work.
"With all the parents behind the scenes making it happen and all of our sponsors, we had a lot to prove to them as well.
"We did a great job."
The Ovens and Murray under-14 boys also staged a huge effort to place 13th at the championships, while the association's under-16's boys and girls teams are still contesting the event in Brisbane.
There are no scheduled water polo games in the region this weekend, with the NSW Country Club Championships to be held in Mittagong on Sunday and Monday.
Sharks are sending both their men's and women's teams to compete, while some Albury Tigers players will also be in attendance over the weekend.
