SHAMIR: "We Will Build Again"

The Sky Sport Breakers were hitting their straps with wins in two of their last three games before last week’s COVID break stalled momentum.

However, Head Coach Dan Shamir is promising fans that the team has been through this before and "we will build again".

For the first time, he has revealed that eight players contracted COVID following the win in Sydney last Sunday.  As a result, after a week of isolation, the team only resumed practicing yesterday.

“Coming back from isolation for a player can be a few days of struggle, physically and just getting back into playing basketball,” he says from the team’s base in Melbourne.

“Practice wasn’t at high intensity, but we hope as a group, as a team, we will catch up in a few days”.

The team continues to adhere to the strict COVID protocols set by the NBL, so it is unclear just how the virus got into the camp.

Each player has a rapid antigen test every day before practice, and that was how management discovered COVID had again infected the camp after some tests came back positive.

Despite another enforced COVID layoff, the Breakers now have no choice but to reset their season and try and build on those two wins against Brisbane and Sydney.

“COVID happens to many teams around the world, but It was bad timing for us,” he says.

“We don’t know how this specific break will affect us, but It’s another challenge we have during this era”.

The team is now preparing for two games in Hobart – one against Tasmania on Sunday and the other against Illawarra next Wednesday.

Shamir says the next couple of days at practice will be crucial as the team knuckles down with total commitment to turn the season around.

“Right now, we will have another few days to find a rhythm, one of the days needs to be a day off because we still need to be smart.  We cannot expose players who have done nothing for 10-days into full-blown intensity,” says Shamir.

“It’s not the first time we fall, and we need to build, and we will build again”.