Coronavirus leaves Big V basketball coach unsure of 2020 season plans

Seahawks coach Shane Smith and Mermaids mentor Lee Primmer said there was a state of uncertainty around the season, which was due to begin last weekend before it was postponed.

Smith, speaking to The Standard before the latest decision on Monday, conceded "you would anticipate it's not going to run for a while".

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"We've probably come up with more questions than answers at this stage in relation to how it's going to look," he said of the 2020 season.

"The drama we have is if they suddenly say progress without crowds (after the ban) that doesn't help the teams at all.

"You get a game but you've got to pay for the courts and still pay for all those things and if we're not having any way of getting an income, it's going to put teams under really. We're struggling at the best of times. It is a no-win situation."

The current Big V ban extends until the end of the Victorian state of emergency plan which was implemented on Monday.

"Does it change, does it get worse or does it get better?" Smith said of the outbreak.

"We're at a big standstill now."

Smith said the situation was ever-changing and admitted he'd "never looked at his emails or text messages so much".

He said the directive would allow the Seahawks to at least map out a plan.

Crowds of under 500 people have been banned under a federal government proposal to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.

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Primmer said he was unsure if the Big V would proceed with games without crowds or with crowd limits at some stage in 2020.

"There is so much uncertainty out there in what people are doing and different associations," he said.

"I know most domestic competitions all over Victoria have been called off but there still are small gatherings of 10 or 20 people training in academies and different things like that.

"I don't know what we'll be doing. With a six or eight-week pre-season, you get your squad ready for that first game and if we weren't to see each other for a month, everyone loses touch."

Primmer said Big V clubs played most of their regular season games with crowds of less than 500.

"Warrnambool occasionally has had 500 if we've had a power-packed player like a Nathan Sobey playing," he said.

"We go away to places and they wouldn't have 500 there. It's a situation where the Big V could maybe continue to play."

Primmer expected the season to be impacted.

"The league might say 'we're going to suspend it for a month' and then it might be a season where we only play each other once," he said before the decision.

"That is our hope."

Meanwhile, Warrnambool export Trevor Gleeson is one win away from a fifth NBL championship in seven seasons with Perth Wildcats.

Games two and three of the grand final series have been played in empty stadiums.

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