Latest news with #JackJumpers
ABC News
a day ago
- Business
- ABC News
WNBL hands Tasmania licence as it announces expansion to 10 clubs
The reformed WNBL will add two new teams, including a Tasmanian franchise, to form a 10-club competition next year. The Tasmania JackJumpers were awarded the licence on Tuesday, fresh off the NBL club's 2021 arrival, 2024 title and last season's sold-out home season. But the women's outfit, set to be part of a 10-team 2026-27 campaign, will carry a different name and logo which is yet to be finalised. It will be the first time the league has featured a Tasmanian-based team since 1996, when the Hobart Islanders' 10-year stint ended. "This is an incredibly proud day for this club and for the state of Tasmania," JackJumpers CEO Christine Finnegan said. "We are so proud to expand the club to now have an inspirational and aspirational pathway for both girls and boys. "We've seen what the JackJumpers have done for the community and how the community have embraced the team. "Now we'll have a women's team that brings that same spirit, pride and passion to the women's game at the highest national level." Australia's longest-running elite domestic women's sports competition has been an eight-team league since 2016. That looked under threat when some teams baulked at conditions earlier this year, as Basketball Australia prepared to relinquish majority ownership to the NBL and Wollemi Capital Group Syndicate. Five-time champions Adelaide have since struck a deal with the South Australian government to stay alive and the league has launched its search for a 10th club to join newcomers Tasmania. In April the league announced a new, four-year deal that will more than double the WNBL's minimum wage as part of a new collective bargaining agreement that creates pay parity with the NBL. The Opals have won three silver and three Olympic bronze medals, while Australians are prominent in the surging WNBA. "With the new energy, investment, and passion in the WNBL, it is the right time for Tasmania to return to the league," WNBL CEO Jennie Sager said. "We thank the JackJumpers for believing in our vision and backing the future of women's basketball. "With one in five girls playing basketball in this country, this new team helps increase opportunities and inspire a new generation of girls to dream big." AAP
Perth Now
a day ago
- Business
- Perth Now
WNBL add Tasmanian club, push for 10-team comp
The reformed WNBL will add two new teams, including a Tasmanian franchise, to form a 10-club competition next year. The Tasmania JackJumpers were awarded the license on Tuesday, fresh off the NBL club's 2021 arrival, 2024 title and last season's sold-out home season. But the women's outfit, set to be part of a 10-team 2026/27 campaign, will carry a different name and logo which is yet to be finalised. It'll be the first time the league has featured a Tasmanian-based team since 1996, when the Hobart Islanders' 10-year stint ended. "This is an incredibly proud day for this club and for the state of Tasmania," JackJumpers boss Christine Finnegan said. "We are so proud to expand the club to now have an inspirational and aspirational pathway for both girls and boys. "We've seen what the JackJumpers have done for the community and how the community have embraced the team. "Now we'll have a women's team that brings that same spirit, pride and passion to the women's game at the highest national level." Australia's longest-running elite domestic women's sports competition has been an eight-team league since 2016. That looked under threat when some teams baulked at conditions earlier this year, as Basketball Australia prepared to relinquish majority ownership to the NBL and Wollemi Capital Group Syndicate. Five-time champions Adelaide have since struck a deal with the South Australian government to stay alive and the league has launched its search for a 10th club to join newcomers Tasmania. In April the league announced a new, four-year deal that will more than double the WNBL's minimum wage as part of a new collective bargaining agreement that creates pay parity with the NBL. The Opals have won three silver and three Olympic bronze medals while Australians are prominent in the surging WNBA. "With the new energy, investment, and passion in the WNBL, it is the right time for Tasmania to return to the league," WNBL boss Jennie Sager said. "We thank the JackJumpers for believing in our vision and backing the future of women's basketball. "With one-in-five girls playing basketball in this country, this new team helps increase opportunities and inspire a new generation of girls to dream big."
Perth Now
05-08-2025
- Sport
- Perth Now
Taipans lure McVeigh as new marquee man
Jack McVeigh will return from his NBA stint with the Cairns Taipans in a major boost for the NBL's reigning wooden spooners. The sharp-shooting Australian forward made his NBA debut with the Houston Rockets in November after a career-best 2023/24 NBL season with the Tasmania JackJumpers ended in a championship ring. The JackJumpers had retained McVeigh's contract rights in the event of a return from the NBA but agreed to the 29-year-old's request for a release from the final year of his contract on Monday. A day later, the Taipans announced McVeigh had signed a one-year deal containing a mutual option for a second season. While the NBL has not yet ratified McVeigh's contract, there is no suggestion his move to the Taipans will be blocked. The forward becomes the Taipans' highest-profile local player since Nathan Jawai and signals optimism in North Queensland following two seasons towards the foot of the ladder. "I know that the club were aiming for a marquee-type signing throughout the off-season and knowing that it was a real possibility changed everything about the type of roster we could build," said coach Adam Forde."I couldn't be happier that it's Jack." McVeigh played nine NBA games for the Rockets and 35 for G-League affiliate the Rio Grande Vipers during his brief American foray. He was named the 2024 grand final MVP in his last season with the JackJumpers, memorably hitting a half-court shot that won game three and put the Tasmanian side up 2-1 in the best-of-five series. McVeigh also represented Australia at 2024 Paris Olympics, where the underwhelming Boomers bowed out in the quarter-finals. The forward is the Taipans' first new arrival for the 2025/26 season and joins Sam Waardenburg, Alex Higgins-Titsha, Kyrin Galloway, Kyle Adnam and Kody Stattmann on the roster.
Herald Sun
24-07-2025
- Sport
- Herald Sun
Will Magnay will suit up again for the JackJumpers after missing out on a two-way NBA contract
Don't miss out on the headlines from News. Followed categories will be added to My News. 'They'll be watching for the future.' Those are the words Memphis Grizzlies management said to Will Magnay after his stint in the NBA Summer League. Magnay flew back into Tasmania earlier this week to meet his new teammates before a quick turnaround to jump on another plane to catch up with the Australian Boomers. The 27-year-old said he did everything he could to get a two-way contract with the NBA franchise. 'They were transparent with what they wanted and what they were looking for and I thought I put my foot in the right direction and the right thing,' Magnay said. 'Ultimately they went with someone just a bit younger, which is sport, you are always competing with someone for a bigger contract in a different league somewhere. 'I am just grateful to get the opportunity and happy to be back around Tassie and looking forward to the season ahead. 'It was a great experience, very grateful for them bringing me in and helping me with my rehab and looking after me and I was treated like one of their own.' Magnay will now head to Queensland for a Boomers training camp before the national team then jets off to the FIBA Asia Cup. The JackJumpers big man is among a 14-player squad who will face the University of Colorado in an exhibition game on July 31. The team will then be cut to 12 for the international tournament with the first game against South Korea on Wednesday, August 6. After an injury riddled 2024-25 NBL season, Magnay is looking forward to getting back on the court. 'It's always a focus, I have had a few bad runs and a few unlucky ones but all I can do is control what I do today and tomorrow and we'll go from there,' Magnay said. '(Scott) Roth's got a new plan for managing me a little bit toward the mid-season and maybe backing me off some trainings a little bit and when that bridge comes, we'll cross it. 'I think there is a loose plan involved at the moment about just trying to keep me managed and healthy this season.' Originally published as Will Magnay will suit up again for the JackJumpers after missing out on a two-way NBA contract
The Guardian
28-06-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Glory and Fury to Devils and Dolphins: Australian team names come full circle
The naming trends for Australian professional sports teams have come full circle, as fans and officials overlook vibe-driven monikers like Glory and the plurally-challenged Power or Storm to return to animals that bite, some 30 years after one of the great sports marketing revolutions took hold. The three most recent expansion announcements in the NRL and AFL have revived classic animal mascots, through the Perth Bears, Tasmania Devils and Dolphins from Redcliffe. The Tasmania JackJumpers spearheaded this return to more conservative, fauna-driven naming conventions for their entry to the NBL in 2019, even if the creature selected left mainlanders scratching their heads. Paul Kind, chief executive of marketing agency Total Sport & Entertainment and a former NRL executive, says that announcement signalled a shift in Australian sport. 'My immediate reaction was, 'oh my god, what have they just done, how have they gone from a blank sheet of paper and come up with JackJumpers?',' he says. 'But I now give them a huge amount of credit for it. It's got to feel like something local fans are proud to associate with, and the fact that it was uniquely Tasmanian connected with their community in a way that anyone who wasn't from Tasmania could possibly imagine.' The JackJumpers' on and off-court success – selling out more than 50 home games in a row and winning the NBL title in 2024 – was closely observed by those working on the state's AFL expansion bid. 'When the name of the JackJumpers was announced, there was a lot of pushback about that,' says Kath McCann, executive director of the club now known as the Tasmania Devils. 'It's become incredibly powerful, not just because of the attributes of the creature, but the philosophy of how they play and the success that they've experienced.' While the NRL's Bears and Dolphins were decisions by officials to resuscitate older brands, the growing appetite from fans for animals was highlighted by the statewide fan survey for the new AFL club run at the end of 2023. Across 6,000 open-ended questionnaires, 68% of fans proposed the Devils. Critters also dominated the next most-backed options: 9% put forward the Turbo Chooks, otherwise known as the Tasmanian native hen and the subject of a lighthearted campaign, and 6% suggested the Tigers despite the existence of Richmond in the competition already. McCann says there was a 'long tail' of suggestions, but the state's distinctive range of native fauna was the source of most – but not all – options. 'The orange-bellied parrot definitely found its way into the list, the handfish – quite a few fish actually, the Trouts were in there,' she says. 'The one that I thought was really interesting was the Auroras.' In the race for NRL expansion during 2021, the Dolphins beat bids from entities dubbed the Firehawks – a bird that spreads fires to help it hunt – and the Bombers to become the NRL's 17th team in 2023. The Hunters has been mooted as a possible name for the NRL's PNG franchise joining in 2028, though a nationwide poll will help make the final decision. 'It must be a name that at least 50%, 60% or 70% of the country supports,' PNG prime minister James Marape said last week. 'It must not just be a name, there must be a motif behind the name.' These discussions are a long way from a trend kickstarted by Perth Glory 30 years ago which opened up less precise, more abstract concepts as sporting nicknames. At the time an advertising executive called Jim Davies was responsible for the development of the new football club's brand. According to WA's Football Hall of Fame, he received over 800 suggestions which were whittled down to five: Flyers, Storm, Predators, Red Backs and Glory. The latter was chosen to differentiate an entity wanted to be known as 'contemporary'. Sign up to Australia Sport Get a daily roundup of the latest sports news, features and comment from our Australian sports desk after newsletter promotion Arguably, a more creative outlook to naming conventions began even earlier, when in 1992 Adelaide basketball officials proposed the Lightning, a term both singular and plural. Although it was a novel name in Australian sport, the Lightning was actually chosen for its connection to history. William Light was the colonial administrator who in 1836 had chosen the city's location, and the new WNBL side echoed the city's NBL team, the 36ers. 'We liked the connection and the history,' former Opal and Lightning legend Rachael Sporn says. 'Then obviously, with lightning, you think of energy and power, so we loved the name right from the start.' Not long afterwards, Melbourne Storm and Port Adelaide Power both appeared, debuting non-traditional, singular nouns in Australia's most popular sporting competitions. Port Adelaide – known as the Magpies in the SANFL – were forced to look at creative solutions given the presence of Collingwood in the AFL, while the Melbourne NRL franchise launched a competition for suggestions. Young fan Cameron Duncan was pronounced the winner. However, Duncan revealed on a Melbourne Storm online forum last year his entry was simply the first one picked out that matched the named already chosen by club officials. Duncan wasn't able to attend the promotion where he was to be awarded his prize because he was watching the preliminary final defeat of his beloved Footscray in the AFL, now – for geographic marketing reasons – known as the Western Bulldogs. WNBL club Townsville Fire and later Bendigo Spirit, A-League clubs Melbourne Victory, Brisbane Roar and North Queensland Fury, along with Super Rugby club Western Force, leaned into this fresh approach, which reached its zenith during the conception of the BBL. Cricket Australia was desperate to distance the new T20 competition from the sport's conservative roots, and adopted eight radical names, two of which were vaguely singular – Brisbane Heat and Sydney Thunder. Another two were weather-inspired – Hobart Hurricanes and Perth Scorchers. The Sydney Sixers echoed naming trends in basketball, but demanded some logical generosity in cricket. Kind, who was working at the NRL in this period, says those unorthodox names reflected a specific marketing requirement. 'The BBL teams had permission to be a bit off-the-cuff and a bit more 'out there', because they were trying to present cricket differently at the time, they were trying to tip cricket on its head,' he says. At around the same time, NRL expansion side Gold Coast was finding its feet in the NRL. Their name the Titans had been selected ahead of the Stingers and Pirates, part of a brief theme of mythical beings like the GWS Giants and SE Melbourne Phoenix. 'The Titans were never going to be the Dolphins,' Kind says. 'They could have easily resonated with the Gold Coast community, but it wasn't cool to be an animal back then.'
