The 2021 Waratah League seasons of both the Shoalhaven Tigers and Illawarra Hawks are over after Basketball NSW was recently forced to abandon them due to the state's COVID-19 lockdown.
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It's a tough pill to swallow for both association's as the two senior Shoalhaven sides and Scott Balsar's Illawarra Hawks youth league men's outfit were all well and truly in the finals mix.
Ben Bagoly's senior Tigers men's division two side was sitting in fourth with a 6-3 record (just two wins behind first), while Ben Morris' youth men two squad had shot up to second place (8-2) in Pool A - on the back of a winning seven of their past eight contests.
Similarly, Bomaderry product Balsar and his division one youth men's Hawks team, headlined by Shoalhaven junior Kyle Leslie, had vaulted up to third (8-3) thanks to a six-game win streak.
Unfortunately, that's where all three of them will end their respective 2021 seasons after Basketball NSW decided to award the championship banner to each competition's leading team.
Therefore, the Central Coast Crusaders were named youth league men one winners - with Balsar's side being just one of two teams to inflict defeat on them in 2021.
While the St George Saints took out the Waratah League men's two title, as the Black and White Inner West Bulls squads shared the YLM2 crown.
"Following last week's monitoring of the COVID situation in Greater Sydney and now regional NSW as well, it has been blatantly clear we will not be able to continue the season in early September," CEO of Basketball NSW Maria Nordstrom said.
"We feel for the kids and adults who have been affected and have not been able to complete a full season over the last two years.
"We can only hope we will be back to a new normal soon and that we can complete a full season next year."
As Nordstrom alludes to, this decision by Basketball NSW has also ended all other competitions around the state, including the Barrengarry and under 12s John Davidson Country Jamboree - which both included numerous Shoalhaven talents.
Thankfully, Shoalhaven's junior teams contesting the Southern Junior League and John Martin Country Championships had already been completed.
The next Tigers team to hit the hardwood will be Morris' YLM2 side, after their second-place finish earned them a spot in the 2022 division qualification mini-series - slated for October 30 and 31.
Shoalhaven and fellow YLM2 sides Inner West Bulls White, Inner West Bulls Black and Coffs Harbour Suns (top two sides from Pool A and B) will battle the two lowest finishers in the YLM1 competition, Hornsby Ku Ring Gai Spiders and St Georges Saints, for the final positions in the 2022 draw - as part of Basketball NSW's promotion and relegation system.