JackJumpers, Devils to work "hand-in-glove"

The ‘code wars’ within the Australian sporting landscape are often a passionate, tribal battle for a foothold within a saturated market, but Tasmania JackJumpers CEO Christine Finnegan says the reigning NBL champions will not only welcome an AFL side to the island state, but embrace and work with it.

Prior to the announcement of Tasmania’s AFL side, the JackJumpers and Big Bash side the Hobart Hurricanes, were the only two professional sporting teams in a state that has produced some of Australia’s greatest ever athletes. 

“I don’t see why we shouldn’t work hand-in-glove,” Finnegan told ABC. “We work in different seasons, we’re obviously a summer sport, AFL are a winter sport.

“There’s no doubt you fight for the entertainment dollar and the hearts and minds, but I think Tasmanians are so parochial now that they’re going to make room for two of us.

“It’s those three words on a wall – ‘defend the island’ – and it’s underpinned by authenticity and humility.

“I think Tasmanians can pick a fraud a mile away. They don’t want someone coming in and telling them how to do things or how the thing’s going to run.

For the full story head to >> JackJumpers’ chief says club can work with new Tasmania Devils AFL team.