The Aussie Sharks have taken out the three test water polo series against the United States with a convincing 14-8 win in the decider in Brisbane.
The triumph is a major boost for the men's team ahead of the Tokyo Games.
With both sides having won a test match a piece, the third once again started out as a close contest with the scores 6-6 at half-time on Saturday night.
After a physical opening, it appeared a grandstand finish was on the cards when the locals headed into the final period with a one point advantage.
However the Aussies, in their last international game on home soil before this year's Olympics, sealed the series with five unanswered goals.
Captain Aaron Younger was pleased with how his team used this series as a building block towards the summer Games.
"After the last game (Thursday), we went back to the drawing board and made sure we were getting out the tactics and game plan as we wanted," he said.
"The boys were a lot more focused today on what we needed to do and it went in our favour."
The Sharks' next play at the FINA World League Inter-Continental Cup in Indiana in April.
Meanwhile, the Aussie Stingers went down fighting 7-10 against a formidable United States outfit in their series decider earlier on Saturday night.
The Aussies led by one goal heading into the final quarter, but the defending Olympic champions came out firing to out score the Aussies 5-1 in the frame.
The Aussie Stingers earlier this week broke the USA 69 game winning streak in their first international series since the 2019 FINA World Championships.
Captain Rowie Webster believed the series was good preparation for Tokyo.
"This is all about our journey (to Tokyo) and I think all three games were good," she said.
"It was a privilege to host the USA and to jag a win against them... you can only play the opposition in front of you and we have always said we just need to focus on our game plan."
Australian Associated Press
