New Breakers Documentary Feeds Appetite of Fans Sick of Sporting Spin

When the Sky Sport Breakers decided to document their NBL21 season, they believed it would capture unforgettable behind-the-scenes moments on the path to a fifth championship.
 
The optimism was well-founded because on paper, they had all the pieces, including the Tall Blacks core of Tom Abercrombie, Rob Loe, Finn Delany, plus Corey and Tai Webster.  
 
Complementing the kiwis were two high quality imports, former NBA player Lamar Patterson, and proven seven-foot Euro League giant Colton Iverson.
 
However, anything can happen in professional sport.
 
The COVID pandemic forced the team to leave New Zealand and play 29 consecutive games across 154 days on the road in Australia while moving home bases an unimaginable nine times.
 
Then Patterson, a two-time NBL All-Star, turned up to pre-season training late and hopelessly out of shape.
 
The team never recovered, and just like league’s Warriors and football’s Phoenix, who also spent a season in Australia, the Breakers missed the playoffs.
 
The story makes for riveting viewing as each player is tested by the mental demands of living on the road for more than five months.  Nothing is off-limits as the series examines such hot button issues as:
 

• The effects of the media targeting Tom Abercrombie’s family after his wife and children followed government procedure and were given MIQ exemptions to return to New Zealand from Australia. 

• Lamar Patterson talks candidly about turning up overweight, the pressure to perform while unfit, the ignominy of being dropped, and his sudden departure mid-season.

• A rift between Tall Blacks Centre Rob Loe and some of his teammates when he abruptly leaves for personal reasons and the team dynamic when he re-joins the Breakers later in the season. 

• Tai Webster discloses he became a father for the first time during the season and the mental ramifications of missing the birth by staying with the Breakers in Australia.

• Corey Webster undergoes secret surgery on his knee mid-season and the infamous incident where he severed a nerve in his hand cutting an avocado. 

“This documentary is a conscious effort on our part to show how the Breakers operate behind the scenes in an open and honest manner,” says owner Matt Walsh.
  
“It’s a story of resilience, adversity, the sacrifices athletes make for their love of the sport, and most importantly, it’s an unfiltered window into the ups and downs, highs and lows and mental health battles real athletes go through.”
 
Walsh says the five episodes will show the Breakers players’ real personalities when confronted with gritty reality. 
 
The American owner's role in the club since buying it from Paul and Liz Blackwell in 2018 is also examined in-depth, with club legends Andrej Lemanis, CJ Bruton, and Mika Vukona all agreeing to be exclusively interviewed for the documentary.
 
#UNBREAKABLE 154 Days, the story of the Breakers’ unprecedented NBL21 Season in Australia, will screen on Sky Sport this year.

Watch the first preview now via YouTube.