Meteors coach Jono Dean has praised his squad's decision making over the festive period, which has left him with a near full-strength squad for Thursday's season opener against NSW at Manuka Oval.
Just two Meteors players are awaiting a negative PCR test result before they'll be allowed to take the field this week for the side's long-awaited first match of the summer, which has already been subjected to multiple COVID delays.
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A virus scare ran through the Meteors camp last month when a development player tested positive for COVID, forcing players and staff into isolation and postponing the ACT's clash with Victoria in Melbourne.
The virus was contained before spreading throughout the playing squad, and Dean's Meteors appear to have successfully dodged further exposure over Christmas and the turn of the new year.
"I wouldn't say we've managed to shield them, I'd say that people are making better choices," Dean said.
"We've put the onus and accountability on each person, and not just players but the staff as well. We're not going to stop them from going places, but they recognise the fact that if you go for a pub for a feed and you're inside and that's three days before a match, you run the risk of being a close contact which potentially rules you out.
"Most of our players are from interstate. You're going to Sydney, you're going to Melbourne, you're going up the coast, down the coast.
"It's the same in all sports. We've managed to get away relatively unscathed at the moment.
"There's a couple we're waiting on which is all part and parcel of the process at the moment. We've got a process we've got to follow - we won't count our chickens just yet, we've got to get to Thursday.
"Unless you put a bubble around everyone like we did last year, it's going to happen. It's just how you manage it, and the depth you have."
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NSW come into Thursday's clash after two thumping pre-Christmas wins over Victoria.
After a lengthy preseason, this week's season opener kicks off a busy period for the Meteors who will play four matches in nine days - two against the heavyweight Breakers either side of back-to-back clashes at Manuka Oval against Victoria.
The likes of Breakers stars Alyssa Healy, Rachael Haynes and Ashleigh Gardner are set to return to Manuka Oval later this month for the Women's Ashes Test match against England.
"They've got some really great cricketers, you just have to look at Healy, Haynes and Gardner," Dean said.
"Throw in [Erin] Burns, and Sammy-Jo Johnson, and Maitlan Brown, young Stella Campbell, you've got Phoebe Litchfield. We'll go in as underdogs. It's an opportunity to knock them off, every time we walk out there we want to beat them."
James Buckley
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
