Cavalry set to miss the Heat this summer

The ACT government's decision to keep border restrictions in place until at least January 6 forced the ABL to postpone the Cavalry's three games against the Sydney Blue Sox due to be played January 1-3.

ACT chief health officer Kerryn Coleman said on Wednesday anyone who'd spent time in Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, the Central Coast or Wollongong would have to continue to quarantine for two weeks upon arriving in Canberra until next Wednesday.

They'd already postponed the other three Cavalry-Blue Sox games that were meant to be played this year.

That means Canberra has an 11-day wait between ABL games following their two-game series against the Melbourne Aces at Narrabundah Ballpark on the weekend.

They were scheduled to face the Perth Heat at The Fort from January 7-10, but that looks set to change when the ABL announces another revised draw on Thursday.

Now it looks like the Blue Sox will come to Canberra for four games instead of the Heat, with it unlikely Canberra will play Perth due to current WA border restrictions.

They've already postponed the Cavalry's season opening series against the Heat in Perth from two weeks ago.

It's expected the ABL will have finalised what they'll do with those postponed Canberra-Perth games by Friday, with awarding each team two wins and two losses looking the most likely and fairest option.

Canberra's season would then continue as per the previous schedule, including their trip to Adelaide for games against the Giants and Brisbane Bandits.

The ABL were also working on contingency plans in case the Sydney and NSW coronavirus clusters continued and the Blue Sox still couldn't come to Canberra.

Otherwise, the Cavalry will have to wait until January 18 for their next game - against the Bandits - 22 days after their loss to the Aces on Sunday.

One option could be for Melbourne to also come to Canberra when the Blue Sox were meant to be in town to form a mini-bubble.

That would guarantee the Cavalry at least some games.

Cavalry chief executive Dan Amodio said they would only play if it was safe.

"We really want to get these games in, but we're not going to do anything that's going to put anyone at risk," he said.

"We're going to do the right thing, we're going to follow the right channels.

"If it's decided it's OK, we'll play safely."

Coleman said the continued community transmission in NSW in locations outside of Sydney's northern beaches meant the ACT continued to be at risk.

She said there were 160 public places that COVID-19 cases had visited in NSW while infectious, including Wollongong.

"As a result the risk continues and the public health direction affecting travel to the ACT from the northern beaches, Greater Sydney, Central Coast and Wollongong local government areas of NSW will remain in place over the New Year period currently until January 6," Coleman said.

"We will provide a further update on January 5."