No referee, no play - Maitland's Kibble Mallon Cup clash cancelled

Maitland coach Luke Boyle said both the Mustangs and Hunters were clear to play under Covid restrictions, but the lockdowns across Greater Sydney, Central Coast and Illawarra had left the Waratah League with insufficient senior officials able to travel to referee the match at Newcastle Basketball Stadium on Saturday night.

The decision also applies to the Waratah 1 women's game.

The Mustangs will effectively be off court for three weeks with a scheduled bye after the Newcastle match and last Saturday's fixtures against Hills Hornets cancelled.

Boyle said the cancelled games were officially postponed with the hope they can be rescheduled, but given a late start to the season and expanded competition it was unlikely time could be found for this even with pushing back finals.

If they are officially cancelled a decision will be made on whether Newcastle will reclaim the cup after winning the opening game 72-69 at Maitland on April 10.

Maitland reclaimed the Cup in 2019 and the Mustangs and Hunters did not play last year.

Sitting third on the Waratah Men's 1 ladder, Maitland will be not disadvantage by the missed games as they sit above Hills and Newcastle.

"It certainly is not ideal, but Hills and Newcastle are chasing us and needed the wins to gain ground," Boyle said.

"We if anything benefit as they don't have the chance to beat us. It's harder on them than us.

"But they both beat us at the start of the season and we would dearly have loved to get one back on them."

Maitland lost to Newcastle in the opening game of the season and in round two 84-72 to the Hornets. Since a 0-3 start to the season, the Mustangs have won six of their past seven games.

The Covid lockdown has seen the cancellation of a number of junior tournaments across the state and national competitions featuring Maitland players.

In one bright spot, the youth league men's and women's games this Saturday between Maitland and Newcastle will proceed.