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Nick Taylor reporting in the West:
Frustrated WA sports teams are on the verge of a breakthrough that will finally see them play in front of their home fans.
New State Government rules easing border restrictions will allow sides to fly in and fly out of Perth amid tight hub restrictions. The terms of those restrictions are yet to be outlined in full.
West Coast and Fremantle’s AFLW sides are set to return to Perth next week after a month on the road and are expected to host three weeks of double-headers against interstate sides at Optus Stadium.
The Perth Lynx will return home on February 13 and are awaiting news on the remainder of their fixture, while the Perth Wildcats’ fixture has them remaining on the east coast until at least February 28.
But while the concessions for the WA teams to play games at home will come as some relief, it doesn’t mean they will necessarily be sleeping in their own beds.
Teams like Perth Glory and Western Force, who are already interstate, may still have to base themselves on the east coast and become fly-in, fly-out clubs for home games in order to complete their seasons.
It is understood clubs have been waiting five days for official confirmation of the changes to border regulations.
Western Force chief executive Tony Lewis said the move meant the Super Rugby Pacific round three clash with Queensland Reds will be played at HBF Park. But both the Force and Reds will be “in-transit” sides.
“Our players will fly-in and fly-out otherwise they will have to go into 14 days isolation,” Lewis said.
“Our team will be based over east and fly-in, fly-out until they open the borders. We’ve had a verbal agreement from the Government but no documentation.”
Perth Glory has both their men’s and women’s side stranded in Sydney and chief executive Tony Pignata said the move was “promising”.
”We are in discussions with the government and VenuesWest about us returning,” Pignata said.
“We are waiting for the sign-off by WA Police on the new regulations. Once we have those regulations we’ll see what it means to us because we have still got away games.”
Pignata said they needed assurances the side could train and play while in isolation.
“If we do come home it means we have got to do two weeks in quarantine,” he said.
“We could likely train in a bubble at HBF Park. It’s not ideal but we’ve done it before.
“My understanding is we will be allowed into the State but until we have written approval it’s very hard to make any decisions.
“It also needs to be commercially viable with crowds, but it is promising.”
The Lynx have been in Victoria since December and have more than half of the team combining playing with working and studying full-time.
Perth will play Melbourne on Sunday and Bendigo on February 12 before flying home.
They are currently scheduled to play in Victoria on February 19 and 20, but those matches will be re-scheduled.
“We’re working with the WNBL, Basketball Australia and the WA government to work through what will happen from here,” Lynx General Manager Brent Dawkins said.
“I’ve got a meeting with the league on Tuesday.
“Being away from family and friends made it important for the players to be back in WA.”
The NBL released further fixtures on Friday morning which will see the Perth Wildcats remain interstate until at least February 28.
Wildcats coach Scott Morrison said the schedule release surprised the team.
“It was a little bit disappointing to see that schedule because we had heard the rumours that maybe something was going to be worked out or maybe we’d be able to play a home game at some point in time,” he said.
“Getting that schedule maybe confused some of the guys as to what is really going on.”
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Originally Posted by Nick Taylor
