Freshwater runoff is likely a key physical influence on the ocean, even in regions of vigorous circulation such as the western boundary currents. However, in southeastern Australia, prevailing viewpoints have led to the impacts of freshwater forcing on the East Australian Current (EAC) system being understudied. Intense observational efforts during the ‘triple-dip’ La Niña of 2022 have now demonstrated that extreme freshwater inflows result in dynamically-significant impacts on the coastal ocean, such as salinity-driven stratification of the water column. Through comparison with glider data over 2009-2022, we show that coastal ocean modelling does not adequately capture nearshore freshwater events and impacts. Sourcing river discharge data for ocean modelling is challenging. We evaluate the potential of discharge estimates from the SWOT satellite mission – showing that extremes of outflow are currently missed by its altimetry-derived L4 discharge products. We are, as yet, unable to draw conclusions on the suitability of SWOT overpass frequency for freshwater forcing estimates. We instead utilise a river gauge network to construct climatologies of catchment-scaled freshwater outflow from southeast Queensland to southern NSW, and comment on the potential impacts of these patterns on coastal ocean dynamics in the context of the seasonal cycle of the EAC and its extensions.