The Canberra Capitals have suffered another blow to their WNBL campaign with four players caught up in a COVID-19 exposure, ruling them out of their next home fixture.
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The side will be without star youngster Jade Melbourne and guard Alicia Froling, alongside Gemma Potter - who is returning from an ACL injury - and Shaneice Swain when they face Townsville Fire on Saturday night.
One of the four players tested positive before the three others became close contacts and were sent into an immediate seven-day isolation period.
It's the second change the side has faced in the past 72 hours, after the Southside Flyers forfeited their Tuesday game against the Capitals due to player availability.
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Canberra head coach Paul Gorris said his side had decided, if the occasion arose like the Flyers faced, they would play with whoever was left on the floor, and less than 24 hours later the side had a decision of their own to make.
He said the containment of the exposure to the squad came down to the soft bubble the squad's medical team had advised.
"That's the toughness and resilience of this group, we want to play ... as long as we've got enough to suit up," he said.
"The girls have done a hell of a job sticking to our medical team's advice, and it has been tough, so credit must go to the girls for how they've approached it all.
The rest of the Capitals squad were not exposed and have tested negative, allowing the Saturday fixture at the National Convention Centre to go ahead.
One silver lining of the situation is it gives development players Bronte Corke and Abby Solway an opportunity to gain some minutes in the 10-player squad set to line up against Townsville.
"Everyone's ready to step up and play some extra minutes in those absences but I think in regards to our bigs, we'll just have to be creative in what we do with minutes and making sure that we're good with foul discipline that we don't get into any foul trouble," Gorris said.
"We'll play the game out, see how it goes and obviously, we can be versatile with the kind of lineups that we put on the court."
The two squads last met on New Year's Eve, with the Capitals leaving Queensland 76-52 winners.