Ex-Sun warms to return

Willis up for quarantine

QUARANTINING for two weeks appears the only way for Mackenzie Willis to feature for the Tigers this TSL season — but it is now a legitimate option, according to coach Trent Baumeler.

Last week Baumeler (pictured) said serving a mandatory fortnight in isolation was an unlikely scenario for the former Gold Coast player.

However Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein’s decision last Friday to lock down the borders as the COVID-19 pandemic flared interstate cast a cloud over Willis’s plans to return home with an exemption.

Baumeler has spoken to his boom signing and remains confident the 24-year-old will suit up in the second half of the condensed 2020 campaign.

“Speaking to ‘Macca’ on Tuesday, he is probably well aware that quarantine is the only option for him now,” Baumeler said.

“He is actually going through that process now. He is desperate to be here and wants to be here.

“He is going through that process of what that looks like for him. I do think we are going to see him, which is good.

“Whether it is the second half of the season, he has come to that realisation that he is willing to do that now.”

Willis was drafted to the Suns from the Tigers in 2015, playing five AFL matches before being delisted in 2018. His presence would give the club a needed boost after a 0-3 start going into this weekend’s clash against Clarence at Richmond.

The Tigers were left licking their wounds after a heartbreaking onepoint loss to Glenorchy last Saturday, a defeat Baumeler said hurt as much as the 78point mauling from Launceston in Round 3.

“They are equally both as deflating, especially last week ... we wanted to respond from the performance against Launceston and we went some way towards that,” he said.

“But a one-point loss, it doesn’t get much more heartbreaking than that.

“We have played three games, we obviously want to get a win on the board sooner rather than later.”