Failure is a mild word.

The Primorac water polo club ended the season without a trophy, which is a failure in itself, and it is even greater if you consider the high ambitions that the people of Kotor did not hide. Especially since the 2025/26 campaign seemed very positive, euphoric at one point...

And how much the word failure is sometimes too mild is illustrated by the example of the former European champion from the ancient city who on Monday experienced one of the most painful, and at the same time strangest, eliminations in his history at his swimming pool. Despite an easy victory - 21:15.

Primorac's hopes of winning the Montenegrin championship were dashed by Budvanska rivijera Budva - they pulled off a miracle and advanced to the finals through a two-legged tie with a higher-quality and much more expensive rival.

When you draw the line, it looks like this: Primorac did not win the Montenegrin Cup because Jadran M:tel was better in the final, they played in the final of the Premier Regional League where they were defeated by the objectively better Radnički, they were also in the semi-finals of the play-offs of the Montenegrin championship and suffered a debacle there.

Whoever wants to present the latter differently is either deeply mistaken or wants to manipulate the facts.

The team from Budva deserves applause and special attention because in the first match of the semi-finals they gave up as many as 18 goals to Primorac, defeated them convincingly - 18:9, and then, due to strange propositions - which really should be corrected because they cause not only confusion but also ridicule from the public - they managed to qualify for the final through penalties in the second leg.

Budva now faces a cup series with Jadran, and Primorac has started the summer season. Although, the general impression is that the break has somehow started since the regional league final tournament in Kragujevac ended in mid-April, where the team Sakisa Kehajasa was better than Jadran in the semi-finals before being easily defeated by Radnički in the duel for the trophy.

Primorac failed - that's the only truth. Although that club may be resentful of the Expert Council of the Water Polo Association of Montenegro, which voted on the aforementioned propositions. However, they are not from yesterday either, there was enough time to discuss them, but probably no one even thought about it because in our water polo, perhaps it was not known who would take the trophy, but for more than 10 years it was understood that Jadran and Primorac would fight for them. Primorac, through the regional competition, earned the right to the advantage of the home pool in the final, but they did not count on the possibility that they would not get there...

Primorac thus "spilled" the season into a miserable 32 minutes that he played in the "Dragan Trifunović" swimming pool in Budva a few days ago. He had a bad day, everyone knows that, but the favorite for trophies in the middle of May, when they are decided, has no right to do so - he has to be the right one. If he is the right one...

After all, it was as if that match had to come in a season in which the Kotorans relied so much on offense and the great quality they have in the full-back and center positions that they somehow forgot that those players have the right to play badly and that in modern sport it is quite realistic that there will come a time when they will not score 15, 17 or 20 goals.

The attack "stuck" for the first time, and the defense remained at its level because it showed for the umpteenth time that as a team it could not resist anyone. That is why this painful elimination followed, although it would have been equally painful if Primorac had lost to Jadran in the final. This is, however, more sensational...

These strange propositions even gave Primorac a chance to make amends after the debacle in Budva, as it was enough for them to win the second leg by even a single goal to secure a fifth place. They celebrated routinely, it was 21:15, and then in the penalty shootout they were eliminated due to just one miss (Đura Radović in the first series) and the defense of a great young goalkeeper Dragoljub Ćetković who also excelled in the first game.

In the end, perhaps the elimination in the semifinals against a much weaker opponent is the result of the bad atmosphere in Primorac in recent times.

It is an open secret that the salaries are not regular either (two to three monthly salaries are owed), and already at the end of April it was known that six or seven regular first-team players were leaving.

Nemanja Vico, for example, did not even see the end of the season because the club and he parted ways after the first leg of the semi-final with Budva, and it is expected that Primorac will also leave Savo Cetkovic, Stefan Vidovic, goalkeeper Dimitrije Risticevic, Luka Murisic, Nikola Brkic...

Some have already found a club, some are looking for one, but it is certain that they will no longer wear the Primorac cap, and it is also certain that the Kotor team is parting ways with coach Kehajas after a season without a trophy.

The club has already agreed on several reinforcements for next season (arriving Dusan Banicevic, Nemanja Ubovic, goalkeeper Sandro King, American national team player Marko Vavić), but the issue of the coach has yet to be resolved.

It will, without a doubt, be another exciting summer in Kotor and requires a much more serious approach because mistakes are forbidden if Primorac wants to bring back the domestic trophies next season.