The tournament, which was to start this weekend, was postponed on Monday.

The Perth and Peel regions are now in a four-day lockdown. It came after the Victorian teams - both metro and country - were forced to play a waiting game after being denied permission to quarantine for 14 days in Western Australia ahead of the competition as Victoria battled its own coronavirus outbreak.

Rantall, a Warrnambool teenager picked to represent his state for the first time, said it was a disappointing situation.

"It sucks. It is hard to do all the work for nothing but it will pay off one day," he said.

Rantall, 14, said the initial setback, which put Victoria's title quests in jeopardy, was a shock.

"We had packed and it was just that night we figured we couldn't go and everyone was just shocked," he said.

"We still had some hope (we'd be able to compete) so we kept training. We trained the other day but were told it was cancelled yesterday."

The Warrnambool College student would like the competition, in some form or another, to be rescheduled.

"I am hopeful but I don't really know. It's not in my control," he said. "I'll just keep working on some basketball and get better at that."

Vic Country played a practice match against Vic Metro on Sunday. Rantall was bullish about Vic Country's chances at the nationals.

"It was good to play against the best in your age group," he said.

"We looked pretty good. We played Vic Metro the other day. We lost but I thought if we played like we could've we could have beat them."

Work is under way to find another timeslot to run an under 16 competition in 2021.

Basketball Victoria chief executive officer Nick Honey commended the players and coaches' commitment during an uncertain preparation period.

"Our teams, coaches, staff members and families have kept their hopes high and worked hard across this period of uncertainty for a chance to enter the tournament," he said.

"The way they have banded together to support each other through each step of this arduous process has been commendable - everyone involved in these teams has Basketball Victoria's admiration and respect for the way they've conducted themselves throughout tough times.

"We will do everything possible to ensure these teams get to compete in 2021 either at the Australian Junior Championships or a replacement event within Victoria."

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