Nathan Power saw his family staffies Molly and Samson in New Lambton on Monday. Next he will visit his grandparents. Then catch up with a few old Hunter Hurricanes teammates later in the week.
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Fresh from back-to-back European seasons and about to tour again with the national men’s squad, Power was intent on making the most of his latest, albeit brief, stopover at home.
The Aussie Sharks representative has spent just 30-odd hours in Newcastle during the last 18 months, but it’s all part and parcel of being a professional water polo player working towards a long-awaited Olympic debut in Tokyo 2020 after a last-minute hand injury ruled him out of Rio two years ago.
But with more than 100 Test caps already to his name Power wants to do more than simply get to the upcoming Games, the 25-year-old defender is determined to make an impact.
“It’s not thinking about getting to the Olympics, it’s thinking about what I can do there,” Power told the Newcastle Herald.
“It’s not just walking off the plane and getting some uniform, you want to do something. That thought process I had before and that desire was already at the top, so it’s just stayed that way no matter what.
“Obviously though, it [Games debut] would be a special thing.”
Power came agonisingly close to a maiden Olympic appearance in 2016, but accidentally cut his right hand during a lead-up camp less than a fortnight out from competition.
“I sat there for two weeks and passionately watched every minute of every game,” he said.
“When you’re part of a team for so long, I mentally felt there any way. After that I had to refocus and keep moving forward.”
Power required surgery, including up to 20 stitches along the palm-side of his little finger, to repair the skin and soft-tissue damage. He was out of action for almost two months before joining Croatian club Primorje.
“I was proud of how I reacted to it,” he said.
“It [the injury] could have been a lot worse, but I could still play again and fortunately I had another goal in front of me. It was my first club overseas.”
The most recent campaign, which wrapped up last month, Power returned to Croatia but switched clubs to Jadran Split where he claimed silver in the knockout cup, bronze in the league and fourth in the multi-national Adriatic League.
“It was a good season and they were pretty good results,” he said.
“I’ve got another contract there [2018-2019] and the plan next year is to try and get some even better results.”
Power and fellow Novocastrian Richie Campbell, vying for a fourth Olympics, last week attended a Sharks’ training camp in Canberra and fly out of the country on Saturday.
Later this month (June 18-23) the Australians will take part in the FINA World League Super finals in Hungary.
The 2019 World Championships will be hosted by South Korea.
