GAME OFF: Mody Maor Laments COVID "Nuisance"

"Let's call it a nuisance."

That's how Sky Sport Breakers Coach Mody Maor is describing the last-minute postponement of their NBL game against the Wildcats at RAC Arena in Perth tomorrow night.

It is revealed a number of the roster had contracted COVID earlier this week, but the Breakers were still determined to travel to Western Australia, undermanned, until today when the situation became untenable.

"The rules in the NBL say you need to have seven players or more to compete in a game and we don't," laments Maor.

It's a terrible situation for us; we want to play this game.  When anyone tries to pull a "swifty," he should have something to gain; we're just losing from this interaction.  The NBL trust us after what we've been through."

What this club has been through in the last two years has been unprecedented in the history of the Australian NBL.

The New Zealand club had to relocate to Australia for the last two seasons.

Last season, COVID struck down the playing roster three times.

This season has been more of a return to the past, with games at home in New Zealand again.

The Breakers have played 16 games in the 28-game regular season and sit second on the league ladder.  However, there is no suggestion the Wildcats game will be forfeited or cancelled.  Instead, it will have to be played sometime in the season.

"The logistical standpoint of this is going to be complicated any way you look at it, the season is a complicated thing and you put a spanner in the middle of it and you know it's going to have ramifications,'' admits Maor.

Breakers General Manager Simon Edwards, who, along with Maor, spent two seasons living out of a suitcase in Australia, says the organisation is working closely with the NBL to find a new date to play the Wildcats.

"It is postponed, not cancelled," insists Edwards.

"We were leaving in an hour.  We had the bus booked; I just cancelled it; we've got the flights; it was not the plan for us to miss the game.

"It feels like Deja Vu, but what the last two years have shown is that we are resilient.  Unfortunately, this isn't new to us.

"Out of every sporting team in the world, the Breakers have probably had it the hardest, in terms of relocations, in terms of playing in empty stadiums, and the league understands we are not going to roll over and do a stunt."

Maor expects enough of his players will be healthy again to play the Breakers' next scheduled game against the Bullets in Brisbane next Wednesday.

"Sadly, we're very experienced with this; our medical staff, our training staff are used to bringing players back from COVID," said Maor.

For now, though, basketball fans will have to wait until the new year for a rematch against ex-Breaker Corey Webster and the Wildcats.