The Canberra Capitals resume from a COVID-enforced two-week hiatus on Friday night when they host the Perth Lynx, in the second-last match before coach Paul Goriss returns from his WNBL ban.
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COVID has ravaged the WNBL over the past fortnight and cost the Capitals their fixture against the Melbourne Boomers last weekend. The match was called off after the side had already travelled to Victoria.
That came just days after last week's rescheduled fixture against the Sydney Uni Flames was also postponed at short notice.
The upshot of the constant fixture shuffling has been the reduction in games Goriss has been forced to miss, after he was banned last month from all coaching duties until January 20 for using clips of the Flames for opposition scouting.
He was due to miss six fixtures at the helm before the postponed games.
Basketball Australia and the Flames were understood to be appealing the independent panel's findings "no actual advantage" was obtained by the Capitals and seeking a point deduction.
Capitals general manager Lucille Bailie said the club had not been updated on the status of the appeal by BA.
She, however, confirmed Goriss would return to his position in time for the Southside Flyers match on January 21.
"It's not far away and ... nothing's changed. It's just the same as what was published originally," she said.
"We're all going through such a tough time and sport brings a smile to many people's faces and we know people love the Caps. So we're looking forward to [Friday] night.
"We're on track and obviously hoping to be able to celebrate Kelly Wilson's 400 games. She's an incredible veteran of the game. We can't wait to celebrate that milestone."
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The Capitals have won both of their games under assistant coach Kennedy Kereama, and hope to make it four from four before Goriss returns. The stand-in head coach said he felt comfortable stepping into the position but he was looking forward to returning to his assistant role after the two Perth matches.
"I think that's just due to the fact that Gorry has really included me in on a lot of stuff prior to him not being with us," Kereama said.
"Really this group has made the role easy for myself to transition into. Obviously, I'm looking forward to Gorry's return because that means I can go back to my focus. So I've enjoyed it, it's been great and they're a great group of players."
The Canberra side will look to secure its next win on Friday against Perth at the National Convention Centre, before it faces them again next week.
Kereama said it would be a tough battle against Perth but he believed his side could rise to the occasion.
"The bar just continues to rise, because this group improves every day and improves game by game," he said.
"So certainly from our standpoint, the expectations and standards would hopefully be at a much higher standard by the time coach comes back. That's certainly been our goal to be a better basketball team, every training session and every game."
Basketball Australia was contacted for comment.
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