Arguably the biggest polocrosse event on the planet gets underway in just a few hours in Warwick, Queensland, Australia. Australia may no longer be World Cup Champions at the sport of Polocrosse but there is no arguing with the fact that they are the biggest playing country in the world and in terms of top level competition and the number of top level players no other country can match them. The Australian Nationals are only held once every two years and this year they return to Morgan Park in Warwick, which many claim in the best polocrosse venue in Australia and the world.

The Championships see all the state teams clash at various levels, including Senior men and women, Under 24 women, Under 21 men, Junior Mixed and various Masters divisions. The competition will see teams from all the States except Tasmania. However, the Championships are often dominated by New South Wales, who are one of the largest polocrosse playing states. At the last Championships in Ballarat in 2010, NSW were in every final and won 6 of them. Queensland were their main challengers, winning three grades and then Western Australia won one grade. However, two years on, Queensland have home advantage and will be desperate to win on their home turf. Western Australia are probably as strong as they have ever been and they pushed NSW hard at points last time.

Predicting the winners might be hard but top quality action is guaranteed throughout the event which runs from the 23rd to the 29th of April, with the teams initially playing in a round robin and then the top two teams play off in the final. For all the information on the teams and the draw go to www.warwickpolox.com.au (Editor’s note: they are also threatening to do live streaming of matches, we may not sleep this week!).