The St Laurence Geelong Supercats are pleased to announce that the club's appeal against the restricted status of Nathan Herbert was tonight upheld by a meeting of the ABA commission and Nathan will play the remainder of the 2008 season unrestricted. This means that the Supercats will be permitted to install Brad Bridgewater in a restricted position along side import Shawn Myers.

The appeal commenced over six weeks ago when Herbert's NBL season produced an unexpected minute average after being recruited as a development player. Thursday night was the final consideration of this appeal by Basketball Australia, with a specially convened meeting of the the ABA commission. The basis of the appeal was that Herbert had played in excess of 150 ABA games with Geelong and was only marginally over the restricted minutes status. While the guidelines specified in the ABA by-laws are 200 games with a single club to remain unrestricted, the ABA has discretionary powers to interpret by-laws to serve the best interests of the game.
 
Bridgewater was recruited in late 2007 whilst Herbert was in a developmental role with the Dragons. When Herbert was announced as a restricted player on 21st January, Bridgewater was advised that the club would appeal the decision.  The club informed Bridgewater that if Nathan remained restricted, it would  keep Herbert as a restricted player in line with the club's policy of supporting the development of local players.  Both Herbert and Bridgewater show great maturity and patience through the appeals process.
 
The Supercats gave their blessing for Bridgewater to commence negotiations with other ABA clubs to sure up his future should Herbert remain restricted.  However, the Supercats maintained the sponsorship of Bridgewater's visa in the event the appeal was successful. Both Bridgewater and the club are extremely pleased with the outcome of the appeal.
 
Geelong will now complete the formalities of a Foreign Player Licence with the intention of Bridgewater playing in Friday's fixture against Bendigo.