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 1. Sport

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BASKETBALL






NZ BREAKERS FORCED TO CANCEL PRE-SEASON GAME AFTER FOUR POSITIVE COVID-19 TESTS

Marc Hinton18:37, Nov 23 2021
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Mike Owen/Getty Images
The New Zealand Breakers, pictured here in the pre-season, have had to go into
isolation after positive Covid-19 tests.

The New Zealand Breakers have been forced to cancel their final NBL pre-season
game after being rocked by four positive Covid tests within their extended group
in Melbourne.

But team owner Matt Walsh, who is with the touring party that have been in
self-isolation since Sunday night, has said the team is hopeful of getting back
on the training court as early as Wednesday or Thursday in Melbourne and
continuing with preparations for their NBL season opener at South East Melbourne
Phoenix on December 4.

The Breakers’ planned pre-season visit to the Illawarra Hawks on Thursday is now
off, but at this stage there is no suggestion of the season-opener being
cancelled. However the situation will continue to be monitored by the NBL as
further testing takes place.

All players and staff within the Breakers camp in Australia are double
vaccinated, and the extended group have been isolating since an unnamed member
of the Breakers touring group felt unwell immediately following Saturday night’s
pre-season win against the Phoenix – their second victory in three buildup
games.




READ MORE:
* Finn Delany buzzer-beater gets NZ Breakers up to second pre-season victory
* Advantage Breakers as Yanni Wetzell steps on to centre stage at his home-town
club
* Injury blow for Breakers as Tom Abercrombie out for up to six weeks


Since then three more members of the extending touring party of 39, which
includes family members of the Breakers playing group and staff, have tested
positive.

Walsh told Stuff he was not willing to identify the personnel who had contracted
the virus but said “there are members of the staff and the playing group who
have Covid”.

“Nobody is any danger of heading to the hospital any time soon,” he added. “We
prepared for this possibility when we came here, knowing at some point we could
face something like this. We have followed all NBL protocols, right now we’re
all in isolation, and we’re going to get further testing tomorrow (morning) to
ensure that it is just the four within the group that have tested positive and
carry on from there.”

More from
Marc Hinton • Senior Sports Writer
marc.hinton@stuff.co.nz

Walsh called the shutdown a “hiccup” and said it was better to have happened now
than much closer to the December 4 season tipoff.

“The hope is we just have the four [positive tests] in the group and we can
start preparing again tomorrow or the following day, and we will be able to
schedule another pre-season game some time against one of the Melbourne teams.

“Having only four pre-season games is tough as it is, so we’re going to try to
replace that game. But we’ll get through this. It was almost a shock we went
three weeks without anything, given that last year three weeks in we’d already
moved two times.

“It’s all gone a little too smooth, with buzzer-beaters off the backboard and
comeback wins, so now we’ve got to get through this, and we will.”


Phil Walter/Getty Images
Breakers owner Matt Walsh has confirmed there are four psoitives within with
group.

The drama started when a member of the Breakers touring group felt unwell
following Saturday night’s game, took a rapid antigen test at midnight, and it
came back negative.

Still feeling unwell the following day, he had a PCR test which subsequently
showed a positive result for Covid-19.

Walsh said the group were all in good spirits as they isolated in their
apartments, with best efforts being made to keep those that were feeling well
active.

“Everyone is very positive,” added the American owner and club CEO. “The great
thing is our players are in amazing shape, they’re young guys, and in terms of
people contracting Covid, this is the group you want as they typically recover
really quick.

“This is part of the new Covid world we live in, and hopefully we’ve caught it
with just the four of us that have gotten it and we move on from here.

Breakers forward Finn Delany reflects on game-winner
Breakers forward Finn Delany reflects on his pre-season game-winner against SEM
Phoenix

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Breakers
Breakers forward Finn Delany reflects on his pre-season game-winner against SEM
Phoenix

“We’ll closely monitor everyone to make sure no other symptoms come on, but the
feeling is positive, that it’s a little bit of adversity, we’ll get through it,
and then how do we get back to business? Morale is strong and we’ll continue
sending funny videos of each other doing workouts as much as we have to until we
can get back to work.”

Walsh said he didn't think their season opener was in doubt, though that could
depend on the test results on Wednesday. The player or players who had tested
positive would be required to stay in isolation for 10 days and clear all
protocols, though if the virus had not spread it was hoped the rest of the group
would be allowed to return to training rapidly.

“We’re all hoping tomorrow’s (day-3) test will come back negative, minus the
ones that were positive already, and then we can get back ont he court.”

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