Aust water polo men chase first Oly medal

No men's team has been able to win an Olympic medal while the Australian women won a memorable gold in Sydney as well as bronze medals in Beijing and London.

While there's nothing but love between the teams, Aussie Sharks veteran Rhys Howden, who is competing in his fourth Olympics, doesn't want to be upstaged by the women again.

Howden captained the team in Rio where they finished ninth.

"The girls have had so many fantastic results and have been on the podium a few times and the men have never really got close so it would be absolutely so special for this group of guys to get on the podium ourselves," Howden told AAP.

"This is potentially my last shot representing Australia at this level so I will definitely be giving it everything I've got."

As well as 34-year-old Howden, Richie Campbell is also lining up for his fourth Olympics, while the team boasts strong family connections, with two sets of brothers - Blake and Lachlan Edwards and George and Andrew Ford - making up more than a quarter of the squad.

Himself a father, Howden hoped the tight family bonds could work in Australia's favour in Tokyo.

"The brothers have a special bond - it helps knowing each other's game and emotions so well so hopefully it can help them and us," he said.

The Sharks have been drawn in pool B with three of the top four finishers from Rio 2016 in Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro, as well as 2019 world championship silver medallists Spain, and also Kazakhstan.

Australia themselves boast some impressive recent results, finishing third in the World League Finals in 2019 and second in the World Cup in 2018, which Howden says gives them confidence.

"They call it the pool of death but at the end of the day it's the Olympics and it doesn't matter the draw, you've got to go into every game with a clear mindset and do your best and hopefully the team tactics prevail and you can progress through," said Howden, who is one of the world's best water polo sprinters.

"Yes we have got some tough opposition, but in the last four years we've beaten every side that's in our pool baring Serbia so we're going into it pretty confident, knowing that we've had these good results.

"There's no reason why we can't beat these teams at the Olympics as well."

They will open their campaign on July 25 against Montenegro.

Australian Associated Press