The opening round of the Australian Grand Slam tour saw veteran Louise Bawden and young-gun Taliqua Clancy secure the women's title against South Australian pair Becchara Palmer and Zina Stone.

The quality on display at the Manly beach tournament leads Pottharst to believe Australia will be a serious medal chance at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

"I'm excited for Rio because we've got four great women's teams that are vying for two spots," Pottharst said.

"The teams still need a lot of experience on the world tour but there is still two years to go (until the Olympics) and I'm really confident.

Pottharst was particularly excited about 21-year-old Clancy, who she anointed as the most talented Australian beach volleyball player ever produced.

The first indigenous Australian to play beach volleyball at the top level, Clancy developed her game in the off-season to take advantage of her assets.

"After the end of last season we talked about what strengths we had and how we could keep pushing them," Clancy said.

"It’s given me the power and confidence to really go for it."

Pottharst also believes the men volleyballers are a medal chance with 'two or three teams a good chance to make it to Rio'.

New pairing and old rivals Chris McHugh and Bo Soderberg took out the men's title at Manly with a straight sets victory over Casey Grice and Cole Durant.

Round two of the Australian Grand Slam will be held on the Australia Day long weekend at the Gold Coast.