THE Challenge Cup men’s competition will commence for 2017 this Saturday afternoon following the conclusion of the Water Polo WA Premier League in December.

It was decided that the men’s Premier League competition would run from October to December for the 2016-17 season to allow the players participating in the National Water Polo League to concentrate on their duties with the UWA Torpedoes and Fremantle Mariners respectively.

That ended up seeing the UWA City Beach Bears and Melville Sharks do battle at Bicton Pool in the Premier League Grand Final, with UWA City Beach ending up prevailing 10-8 to claim the premiership.

While that meant that the NWPL players didn’t need to juggle commitments with those of their Premier League clubs, those local players not involved at a national level were hoping for some competition. That’s where the Challenge Cup was installed now for 2017.

The four teams to participate in the Challenge Cup will be Triton, Pressed Earth Dolphins, Phantoms and Barbarians.

Triton, Dolphins and Phantoms will be fielding their own respective teams as they have done previously in the Premier League.

The Barbarians will regularly include a variety of players from different clubs and will be coached by WA Institute of Sport coach Paul Oberman.

The competition will see each team play one another three times with no semi-finals to take place and the Grand Final set for April 1.

The competition begins this Saturday with the Pressed Earth Dolphins playing Phantoms, and Triton then taking on Barbarians. Both games take place at Claremont Pool beginning at 2.30pm.