With the Paris Olympics looming large on the horizon, Australia's water polo teams will use the rare opportunity of international competition at the upcoming World Aquatics Championships in Doha to gain valuable intel on their Olympic rivals.

Australia's involvement at the World Championships begins on Sunday, February 4, with Australia's women's team, the Stingers, taking on Singapore, while the men's team, the Sharks, take on European championship runners up Croatia the following day.

Both Australian teams kicked off what promises to be a huge 2024 with the women's team drawing their Test series against Canada, and the men beating Japan 2-1 in Brisbane throughout January.

The Stingers' two-Test series against Canada, with Australia winning the first match comfortably 15-8 before losing a tight second Test 12-11, illustrates just how close the top level of international women's water polo is.

"At the moment there's about 10 teams in the mix," Stingers player Zoe Arancini told ABC Sport earlier this month. 

"It's good that it's so competitive, because before it was just America who were dominating, whereas now, it's just on the day and who's the better team."

Arancini is deep into her fourth Olympic cycle with the Stingers, competing in Rio and Tokyo, and is a part of Australia's rich heritage in the sport.

Her mother, Wendy Meloncelli, was the part of the Australian team that won Australia's first ever World Championships gold in 1986.

In Sydney 2000, when women's water polo was belatedly added to the Olympic program, Australia won gold.

That team was recently recognised by Sport Australia with the Dawn Award, as much for the victory of getting women's water polo included in the Games — a century after the men's tournament was first played in the River Seine in Paris — as winning the gold.

Arancini said those pioneering women are an inspiration to the current generation to push on.

"You don't go just to participate in an Olympics, you want to be the best in the world," Arancini said.

"We want to keep that tradition, the Aussie Stingers have always been up there and we want to keep that going and leave a legacy so this is what the next generation aspire to.

"The Olympics was a bit different then, there were only six teams, but the atmosphere doesn't change, what it takes, the training, they're similar.

Arancini, who was part of the team that finished fourth at last year's World Championships in Fukuoka, said that having former legends be involved in the sport has helped drive the current crop of players on.

"They've come back and they want to be involved and they want to help Australia and help the program that they were a part of and give back.

"Taryn Woods, Bronwyn Mayer-Smith, Jo Fox, Naomi Castle, Deb Watson … Bridget Leeson-Smith, her mum also played with my mum and she coaches down at the club [Melvile in Perth].

"There's people who keep involved which is fantastic for the sport. That's volunteering and that's how community sport is run.

"They've always had a part in it and that's, for water polo, is what it's all about.

"It's giving back to the sport and it's fantastic that they're still involved and that those  coming through have an opportunity to meet with them, be coached by them and have those experiences."

Overseas stars offering unique perspective

The culture of players passing on their knowledge and experience is not limited to former stars — the current generation are also keenly aware of their responsibilities to the next generation.

"I was very fortunate growing up on the Sunshine Coast," goalkeeper Nic Porter told ABC Sport.

"I had some really amazing Olympic role models that [would] come and coach me and give me advice and that was so important in my development so if I can at least help in a small part for those kids on the Sunny Coast then I'm happy to do it because I know how much of an impact it made on me."

Porter is one of a handful of players competing as a professional for one of Europe's top teams, lining up for Spanish Champions League regulars, CN Atlètic-Barceloneta.

The 201cm tall, 25-year-old said having the experience of playing against some of the world's best players on a week-in week-out basis is a huge positive for Australia.

"As a team, when we come back from Europe we learn so much and we learn how the best in the world do it and we bring some of the elements of their play back to our team," he said.

"For me personally, I get to train with some of the best shooters in the world every day and that gives me a lot of confidence when I come back into the national team and probably take on a bigger responsibility in the team, which I love."

Porter certainly embraces that responsible role in what is one of the toughest positions in the sport.

So much action takes place with players' swimming, head down in the water, meaning goalkeepers are in a unique position to survey the pool and identify any defensive weaknesses in the opposition.

Not only that, but the goalkeeper is the only player to have a full sense of the opposition in attack, calling defensive plays and structuring the team best to defend.

"It's all about giving some energy to my team," he said of his overt reactions to making saves in the cage.

"I have to be aware of what players on the other team are in the water, what players on my team are in the water, what their attack is likely to run and what defence we should play, so constantly thinking about that kind of stuff.

"The boys probably give goalkeepers a lot of stick because they think we have the easy job — and physically we probably do — but I think mentally it's a bit more draining because we're having to think so much tactically."

Lack of opportunities a blessing and a curse

Speaking during January's three-Test series against Japan in Brisbane, Aussie Sharks coach Tim Hamill said the relative paucity of international matches was both a blessing and a curse for his team.

"Any time we get to play an international game is very important," Hamill told ABC Sport.

"It's a challenge. We'd love to get to Europe more often, but there's challenges with that.

"The reality at the moment is we're probably playing a third of the amount of international games that our competitors play and that's what makes these matches so important.

"We need to find a way to upskill ourselves quickly from a development point of view because we just don't have those games."

With the Sharks dropped into a tough pool at the World Championships with recent European finalists Spain and Croatia plus South Africa, getting into the knockout rounds would be considered an achievement.