How sport is galvanising Tasmania

Tasmania has long been a stronghold of Australian male sporting talent. Whether it be the likes of former Australian cricket captains Ricky Ponting and Tim Paine, Boomers stalwarts Adam Gibson and Chris Goulding, Socceroos defender Nathaniel Atkinson, or the raft of AFL stars to have emerged from the island, the state has often been underappreciated for its ability to churn out international-calibre talent.

It has always batted above its weight in the Australian sporting landscape, but the addition of the JackJumpers to the NBL has galvanised the state's sporting public and given the region a tangible, at home pinnacle to aspire to.

The JackJumpers aren't the only Tasmanian team to grace the NBL through history, nor will they be the first Apple Isle side to win a championship should they prevail in NBL24. The short-lived Launceston Casino City spent just three seasons in the NBL in the early 1980s, and took home the 1981 title. The Hobart Devils managed to last a full 13 seasons in the 80s and 90s, but exited the competition after the 1996 season having never qualified for Finals.

Three-time AFL premiership player Jack Riewoldt is one of the latest Tasmanians to establish themselves as sporting royalty within the state, and the Hobart-born former Richmond star is currently playing a key role in the inclusion of a Tasmanian team in the AFL. He's also a fierce JackJumpers supporter, whose relationship with the NBL harks all the way back to the days of the Melbourne Tigers and the State Netball and Hockey Centre.

Jack Riewoldt sitting courtside at a Melbourne United game.

The inclusion of the newest AFL team in Tasmania has been a hotly contested topic since the announcement the team's licence would be dependent on the construction of a new stadium that has been estimated to cost approximately $715 million, much of which is expected to come from state government coffers.

As someone who trod the AFL pathway from Tasmania to Victoria, Riewoldt believes the impact of the JackJumpers on the community is representative of why local professional sport is so important to exist on the island state, and why the currently unnamed Tasmanian Football Club is so crucial to the population.

“I think vehicles like professional sporting teams – whether that be the JackJumpers or the Tasmanian AFL team – are critically important for the community from an inspiration and hope perspective,” Riewoldt told NBL Media.

“What sporting teams do for people is they give them a sense of family and belonging and I don’t think that’s lost on the JackJumpers.

“There’s a sense of passion there, but fundamentally these opportunities are taking stars of professional sport – in both basketball and AFL – off the TV screen and they’re providing people in Tasmania the opportunity to see they’re real-life people, and that provides a level of inspiration for the next generation.

“I’m excited to hopefully see Tasmanian players represent the JackJumpers who have come through an organic pathway in Tasmania.

“That’s what we aspire to, we want to be getting people playing sport in Tasmania, and hopefully both the Jackies and the football team can reap the rewards of more kids playing sport.”

In NBL24 the JackJumpers have one player on their roster who has come through that organic Tasmanian pathway – Jacob Richards.

Richards was signed to a development player contract following the departure of Burnie-born talent Tre Armstrong after he spent the first two seasons of the club’s history as a train-on player whilst representing the Hobart Chargers in NBL1.

He’s made two appearances for the JackJumpers this season, and Richards is a shining example of what that tangible pathway can achieve for local talent.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Of the people, for the people ?<a href="https://twitter.com/JackJumpers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JackJumpers</a> DP Jacob Richards is Tasmania through and through and has earned his opportunity at his hometown club ? <a href="https://t.co/ywabNoqHWI">pic.twitter.com/ywabNoqHWI</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1686590785360445440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 2, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

There are a handful of Tasmanian-born players littered around the NBL – most notably Melbourne’s Chris Goulding and Tanner Krebs, and Cairns’ Taran Armstrong, but Riewoldt says one of the greatest strengths of the JackJumpers has also been to accept interstate and international representatives with open arms.

“Tasmania is quite a small and isolated place that has really unique values,” he said.

“They’re a group of people that can be ferociously parochial at times and really care for their own.

“It’s incredible how the likes of Milton Doyle and his family have been adopted into the Tasmanian public in what’s been a really trying time for them. There’s something special about that, and it brings that almost sometimes out of reach mentality with professional sport back to a homegrown essence where there’s just a whole bunch of people who love a player and a team because they feel like they represent them in the right way, and they feel like they’re a part of it.

“For Scott Roth to come from Ohio and fundamentally slot straight in is an amazing achievement. Going in and not professing to know all the answers – which can be a very different way of going about things – is Scott’s greatest strength.

“If you look at management and coaching, it’s probably coaching 101 to provide a sense of surety and then promote what people are great at. Scott’s certainly done that with openness and honesty, and his ability to be human has made the public fall in love with him.

“It would be a great question to ask Scott, Milton and some of the international and interstate players about whether or not they feel they are Tasmanian, because it can happen pretty quickly.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">SIGNED ??<br><br>Scott Roth has signed a contract extension with the <a href="https://twitter.com/JackJumpers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JackJumpers</a> through to the end of the 2026/27 season ?<br><br>Read more: <a href="https://t.co/jHsdJoGYrQ">https://t.co/jHsdJoGYrQ</a> <a href="https://t.co/eGA8Yewqqf">pic.twitter.com/eGA8Yewqqf</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1747819114008375783?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 18, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

One key question that has been floated around the inclusion of Tasmania’s impending AFL side has been how it will impact the JackJumpers’ famous fandom.

The NBL’s newest club has sold out every single home game ever hosted in the state, and Damon Lowery recently asserted the ferocious home support is “worth at least 12 points”.

One key aspect of how the JackJumpers and the football team can coexist is the fact they run on different sporting calendars with limited overlap into each others' seasons, and Riewoldt believes the two clubs can join forces to become a bastion of the community in both a sporting and educational sense.

“The competitions run into each other, they butt into each other really nicely which gives a great flow on.  Tasmanians are crying out for opportunities to go to live sport and not having to jump on a plane to come over to Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide or somewhere on the mainland,” he said.

“I sit here a little bit envious knowing we have another sporting body just around the corner, and I look at how the Jackies are doing and I hope and wish for that for the Tassie AFL team. Some people may pitch us as competitors in a small market, but by no means will we be competitors. We’ll be open dialogue making sure we’re all doing the right thing for Tasmanian sport.

“You only need to look back to two or three weeks ago where Tasmania finished third in the Australian championships at the men’s U20 level to see having men’s professional sport in Tasmania is having the desired result for more people playing the sport and more talented kids playing sport.

“The fruits of labour are already starting to come through and that’s about everything. That’s not just about getting kids involved in sport, because I know the JackJumpers are big on educational change as well. They’ve had a recent push to get into 65 schools around the state, and the hands on approach from the players, coaches and leadership is second to none.

“We cannot wait to walk hand in hand with the JackJumpers and tackle not only the sporting landscape, but other issues we think we can help each other on to make true change in Tasmania and be great Tasmanian sporting bodies.”

Tasmania's Seeding Qualifier against Illawarra will tip off at 5:30pm AEDT on Wednesday night, live on ESPN via Kayo.