Melbourne Storm football boss Frank Ponissi says it’s likely the club will miss another home game due to the city’s ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.
The Storm were forced to shift last Saturday’s home game against the Gold Coast to Sunshine Coast Stadium in Queensland, and Ponissi says the chances are “slim” for next week’s clash against the Wests Tigers to be played at AAMI Park.
“We’ve already missed one home game last weekend, but we’ve got an away game anyway this weekend so it doesn’t really matter,” Ponissi said on Sportsday.
“But our now next home game is against the Wests Tigers on Saturday week, realistically our chances of playing that are slim, certainly in front of our supporters.
“For us to miss another (home) game would be really devastating given we haven’t played a home game since April with the nature of our draw.
“We would love to get back for that Tigers game but I’d say that’s really looking shaky."
If the Storm are forced to relocate their Round 15 game against the Tigers, they won’t play in front of their home supporters again until Round 18 when they host Newcastle.
“The next game after that at home is on July 17 after Origin, so definitely we’d be hoping to be (in Melbourne) by then,” Ponissi added.
“But fingers crossed we can get back for the Tigers game.
“It might be a few weeks, but we just have to wait and see how things develop in Melbourne.”
While the Storm has been on the road since Round 9, they’ve won all five games since being based on the Sunshine Coast.