Author

Joel Osborne writes

Posted Thursday, March 22nd 2018 @BristolSportJO

The club is in good hands - Kapoulas

Thursday, March 22nd 2018

Andreas Kapoulas believes Bristol Flyers will be in safe hands when Nick Burns steps in as acting Head Coach this weekend.

Kapoulas flew to Australia this week to begin the final stage of preparation for the 2018 Commonwealth Games as England head coach, before the team's opening game of the competition against Scotland on Thursday, April 5th.

Burns’ tenure as acting Head Coach will begin this weekend against the Cheshire Phoenix, where Flyers will also be without Daniel Edozie due to Team England commitments.

Team Scotland are set to fly out to the Gold Coast next week, meaning Flyers' captain Mike Vigor will still be available to play on Saturday night.

"It’s going to be very difficult for me,” Kapoulas revealed to Bristol Flyers TV.

“I’ve only missed two games in the 13 years that I’ve been coaching the Flyers and to suddenly miss four games in the period of three and half weeks will be very tough.

“I feel like I’m leaving the team in no better hands than Nick (Burns). We’ve been preparing for this moment all season and we knew this time was coming, so we’ve been preparing for how we’re going to operate whilst I’m away.

"I’ll be in constant communication with Nick - we’ll be talking all the time and Chris Bourne will also support Nick too.

"It’s not an ideal situation but I think we have everything in place to make the most of it.”

Nick Burns will step in as acting Head Coach for the next four games

With the absence of Vigor and Edozie for the duration of the Commonwealth Games, Kapoulas has bolstered his squad with the addition of twin brothers, Malcolm and Marcus Delpeche from German side, Grevenbroich Elephants for the remainder of the season.

"We're very excited to have them along,” Kapoulas added.

“We’ve never really added to the squad this late in the season before, but both Malcolm and Marcus are great guys and I think they will really fit into our system.

“It’s not necessarily about them covering a gap - they’re going to be here for the rest of the season. I think they give us the necessary depth that we require to make that final push with the last nine games ahead of us.

Limited standing and courtside tickets are still available for the debut of Malcolm and Marcus Delpeche against Cheshire Phoenix this weekend.

FIND TICKETS.