As Victoria entered its seven-day lockdown sport was one of many sectors put on pause.
Only a few fixtures of the NBL1 South competition were able to go ahead as the games were in Tasmania.
The South Australia's Mount Gambier Pioneers took on Tasmanian teams the Hobart Chargers, Launceston Tornadoes and North-West Tasmanian Thunder on Friday and Saturday night.
President of the Mount Gambier Pioneers Tom Kosch said the semi-professional basketball club made the decision early to avoid transiting through Victoria.
"Normally, travel through to Tasmania would be through Melbourne," he said.
The men's and women's teams, plus coaches and staff, instead travelled from Mount Gambier to Adelaide, then to Sydney, then to Hobart.
"We've definitely taken a long way to get there," Mr Kosch said.
In the best interest of all
Mr Kosch said originally changing their flights was "largely precautionary".
"When we were working through reissuing flights and rerouting our flights, we just felt like it was best that we avoid Melbourne altogether at the time," he said.
Mr Kosch said avoiding transit through Melbourne meant "keeping the games rolling" as well as preventing any potential quarantining for Pioneers players or staff.
"We really wanted to support the league in trying to get the games to play this weekend," he said.
"We're hoping that they can get on top of it so the NBL1 competition can resume in the next week or two.
"It’s really just been about making sure that we can do things to keep the games going, as well as ensuring the safety of our players and coaches and all of our teams."
