team australia 2026 - 11th place!

Mechelen, August 2026

Team Australia headed to Belgium with eight players, a full coaching crew and a squad that had already made a statement in the singles. Four straight wins on the opening days put us in the mix with the best teams in the world. A tough final day followed, but we came home 11th of 46 nations, with plenty of moments worth remembering.

4 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses · 9 match points · Full results on Best Coast Pairings

Warmaster: the warm up

Before the teams event, ten of the squad lined up in the WTC Warmaster against 578 players from around the world. Four Australians finished inside the top 31.

• Nathan Princi opened 5 and 0 with Custodes to finish 15th.

• Jordan McGregor opened 5 and 0 with Sororitas to finish 19th.

• Joshua Woods opened 5 and 0 with Death Guard to finish 22nd.

• Liam Hackett went 5 and 1 with Necrons to finish 31st, scoring the maximum 100 in four of his six games.

• Jacob Warn scored 100 in all four of his wins before stepping away ahead of the main event.

It was the perfect signal heading into the teams. Warmaster results

The campaign

Round 1 v South Korea: won 132 to 28. We knew which way the round was going when Woodys landed both the Great Unclean One and Rotigus in the same marine deployment zone on turn two. A dream start.

Round 2 v Latvia: won 120 to 40. Dave took the T'au off the table for us in pairings, and turned a coin flip match up into a 14 to 6 win.

Round 3 v Wales: won 107 to 53. Jordan was on fire early. A 20 to 0 over Liam Keane was his second clean sweep in a row, and gave him 54 of a possible 60 points from his first three games.

Round 4 v Canada: won 90 to 70. Nathan drew the only Guard super heavy we faced all event. With nothing in his army above Strength 7, he still took it apart for a 16 to 4 win, a real swing in our favour.

Round 5 v USA: lost 74 to 86. The first score locked was Jacob's 19 to 1 over Anthony Vanella. A big win for us, even though the round went the other way.

Round 6 v New Zealand: drew 82 to 78. The trans Tasman clash came down to captain against captain. Erik beat David Gaylard 11 to 9, just days after Gaylard finished 2nd at the Warmaster.

Round 7 v Spain: lost 36 to 124. Spain was a tough final round. A yellow card early in the round put us well behind, but we kept pushing at every table. Huge credit to the Spanish captain, who offered to argue our case with the judges, even though it would have hurt his own team's result, because he wanted both teams to have a proper game. That's the WTC at its best. We took every risk on offer, and Erik still closed the event with a 15 to 5 win over Miguel Durá.

Moments of the event

• Three players, six wins each. Jacob, Liam and Erik all won six of their seven games.

• Top scorer. Jacob led the team with 116 battle points, including three 20 to 0 wins in a row to open.

• Unbeaten start. Nathan won every game through the first four rounds.

• T'au, solved. We played into T'au three times and won all three, 50 to 10 combined.

PHOTO GALLERY

OUR TEAM

Jacob Warn · Orks
The team's top scorer. Jacob opened with three straight 20 to 0 wins and locked the first score of the USA round with a 19 to 1. At the Warmaster he scored 100 in every game he won.
6 wins, 1 loss · 116 battle points

Liam Hackett · Necrons
Relentless all week. Liam finished 31st at the Warmaster with four maximum scores, then won six of seven for the team, including a 19 to 1 into T'au.
6 wins, 1 loss · 109 battle points

Erik Lathouras · Tyranids · Captain
Erik led from the front. He won the captain's showdown against New Zealand over a Warmaster finalist, and closed the event with a 15 to 5 win over Spain.
6 wins, 1 loss · 94 battle points

Nathan Princi · Custodes
Our best finisher at the Warmaster in 15th. Nathan was unbeaten through the first four rounds of the teams, and took apart a Guard super heavy with nothing above Strength 7.
5 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss · 85 battle points

Jordan McGregor · Sororitas
Jordan started the Warmaster 5 and 0 and finished 19th. In the teams he took back to back 20 to 0 wins against Latvia and Wales.
4 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses · 84 battle points

Joshua Woods · Death Guard
Woodys started the Warmaster 5 and 0 on his way to 22nd. He set the tone in round 1, catching the Great Unclean One and Rotigus in the marine deployment zone on turn two.
2 wins, 2 draws, 3 losses · 59 battle points

Dan Savage · Chaos Daemons
Dan opened the event with a 17 to 3 win over South Korea. Against New Zealand he held Dark Angels to a 10 to 10 draw in a round that finished 82 to 78.
1 win, 1 draw, 5 losses · 47 battle points

Dave Kerr · Blood Angels
Dave put his hand up for the T'au against Latvia, taking a coin flip match up off the pairings table and winning it 14 to 6. He started the Warmaster 3 and 0.
1 win, 6 losses · 47 battle points

Support crew

With no stream this year, the crew focused entirely on the players. Greg was head coach, Taylor ran pairings, and Zakk, James and Conor all chipped in as support coaches. Conor and James handled the logistics, which made the whole trip run smoothly.

OUR SPONSORS

Getting a team to the other side of the world takes a community. These businesses backed us all the way to Mechelen, and we couldn't have done it without them.

• Gash Hammer Gaming

• Spencers Vodka

• Gamers Village

• Loans For U

• F M Fabricators

• Guf Ballarat