The next 72 hours will be crucial in shaping the Canberra Cavalry's ABL season as the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc with travel plans in the New Year.
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Canberra has been scheduled for two series against the Sydney Blue Sox as part of the revamped ABL draw announced on Thursday, but the three parties will meet again on Monday to discuss any fall out from New Year's Eve celebrations.
But, as revealed by The Canberra Times on Wednesday, the Cavalry won't be playing the Perth Heat in the regular season.
They were due to play the Heat at Narrabundah Ballpark from January 7-10, but that's been replaced with a four-game series against Sydney - provided ACT border restrictions don't prevent that from happening.
Currently, anyone who has been in Greater Sydney has to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in Canberra, with the ACT government keeping that in place until at least January 6.
The Cavalry will still travel to Adelaide to play games against the Giants and the Brisbane Bandits from January 18-20.
They will then head to Sydney to play four games against the Blue Sox from January 22-25, before returning to Canberra to host games against Adelaide and the Bandits from January 28-31.
But as the coronavirus outbreaks in NSW and Victoria continue to evolve that could all change.
Cavalry chief executive Dan Amodio was confident their home series against the Blue Sox could go ahead - provided there weren't too many COVID-19 cases to come out of this weekend's celebrations.
He said their series against the Melbourne Aces at The Fort last weekend was proof they could successfully play games in the current climate.
"The next 72 hours are probably the most important 72 hours the ABL has faced in a really long time," Amodio said.
"If over the weekend people do the right thing over New Years and on Monday ... there's no real sign of a huge outbreak across the country I expect we'll be able to get things on track.
"We saw over the weekend when Melbourne came here for two games it was successful."
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ABL boss Cam Vale said there was the possibility teams might have to play multiple series against the same opponent - for example Canberra against Sydney - rather than have something resembling a traditional home-and-away fixture.
"The teams have been incredibly good at accepting any sense of equality in the fixture is just not possible and the aim is just to play where we can safely," he said.
"Where we are trying to create some form of equity is to maintain what home content can be played for each team."
ABL SCHEDULE
January 7-10: Canberra Cavalry v Sydney Blue Sox at Narrabundah Ballpark.
January 18-20: Canberra Cavalry v Brisbane Bandits and Canberra Cavalry v Adelaide Giants at Adelaide.
January 22-25: Canberra Cavalry v Sydney Blue Sox at Blacktown.
January 28-31: Canberra Cavalry v Brisbane Bandits and Canberra Cavalry v Adelaide Giants at Narrabundah Ballpark.