Sergio Afric, back on the islands to guide Neptunes Vodafone, hopes that his team's latest triumph in the Wilkinson Sword Winter League will herald brighter things in summer. The Croatian coach is gunning to lead the Reds to league success and thus extend his record of having won the national championship with four different clubs.

Victory in the Winter League last month meant that Neptunes have now won the Winter League for four years in succession (2005 edition was not held) and a total of six times out of 12 competitions held so far since 1994.

Physical education teacher and top goal-scorer in the then Yugoslav league at only 18 years of age, Afric has been coaching waterpolo since 1991. He thinks that the level of the game in Malta is very good and this is why he keeps on coming back year after year.

He has coached San Giljan, Sirens and Sliema before and is now coaching Neptunes for the second year. In Italy, he has also led Volturno, Catania and Palermo. Assistant coach at Neptunes is Karl Izzo.

This year, local clubs have been given the go-ahead to sign players of non-Maltese nationality. Croatian Dubravko Simenc, 39, has been identified by Afric as the player who is most likely to fit in his scheme of things with the current crop of Neptunes' starlets.

"Dubravko's charisma, athletic ability and leadership, are just the qualities needed by our team to enable us to build on the success achieved during the final part of last season," Afric said.

Commenting on his squad, Afric said Malcolm Azzopardi has left the club this year. He said there's a good crop of players coming up and singled out captain Niki Lanzon for his valid contribution and great character.

Lanzon, 25, is a club product and has been voted ASA Player of the Year in 2001 and 2004. He is a strong swimmer, always dangerous in attack and consistently a leading scorer.

Matthew Pisani, 28, joined Neptunes in 2002 from Sliema. He is a hard worker who, while building up attacks with his constant swimming, also finds the time to score precious goals and help out in defence.

David Camilleri, 31, is another club product and the only member of the current squad who was in the last Neptunes team to win the league in 1993. Afric said Michele Stellini's most marked characteristic is his powerful and deadly shooting. Left-handed and also a strong swimmer, he also creates many scoring opportunities with his fast breaks.

Afric said waterpolo is a demanding sport. Training schedules have to be executed perfectly, ensuring the work that has to be done is carried out.

"The first opponent in this sport is the water. Contrary to other sports, besides facing an opponent, in waterpolo you also have to counter water resistance," he said.

"Swimming should be practised regularly... it's the basic training ground for waterpolo. In my opinion, swimming should be further promoted in local clubs and offered as another option for children's regular sport activities."

The preliminary round of the 2006 national championship, also sponsored by Wilkinson Sword, starts on Friday with the following matches: 6.30 p.m. Marsascala Breakers vs Marsaxlokk Freeport; 7.45 p.m. Sliema Burger King vs San Giljan Zara.

Neptunes Vodafone will be in action on Saturday when they play against Exiles at 6.30 p.m. Champions 2X Sirens face Ta' Xbiex Mermaids Paradise at 7.45 p.m.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.