Breakers boss realistic over bubble bursting

The Breakers are excited about their return home, but are also aware that things can change in an instant.

The franchise announced this week they would be returning to New Zealand for their final seven games of the Australian NBL season, with their first game on home soil scheduled against the Sydney Kings on Thursday, May 20.

It has been more than 400 days since the Breakers last had a game on home soil and, while the impending transtasman travel bubble will allow them to end that drought, chief executive Matt Walsh said they are wary the bubble could burst in an instant.

“It’s not all that different to what’s happened all year in Australia,” Walsh told Newstalk ZB’s D’Arcy Waldegrave.

“If something popped up in Brisbane, we’ve had to adjust. We’ve had to move from Melbourne to

Tasmania to Cairns; it’s just the way it is. It’s the new normal until vaccinations come to this part of the world.

“We’re ready and the guys are very excited to come home, but they’re professionals; they’ve handled it all year and it something changes, we’re getting to the business end of the season, we’ll get through it and we’ll move on and start prepping for next season.”

Walsh said if the bubble burst before or even during the Breakers’ home stand, they would have to play the scheduled home games in Australia instead.

“The reality is, unless we’re here already, those seven games are likely to be in Australia like the rest of our games have been. We’re hopeful that doesn’t happen, but given what’s happened with Covid so far, you never know.”

With planning for their home stand now underway, Walsh confirmed the club was looking to take some of the games outside of Auckland and was hopeful of having a schedule released by the end of next week.

They will be hopeful that the games still have some meaning, with the Breakers sitting in second-to-last on the ladder with a 6-14 record, and looking unlikely to make the playoffs. However, with several games in hand, and nine games in Australia remaining before their proposed move back home, the Breakers could still have something to play for when they return home.

Those hopes were aided by a dominant 91-71 victory over the Brisbane Bullets on Friday night, with William McDowell-White starring.