Roth fires back at "little island" comments

The phrase ‘defend the island’ has become synonymous with the JackJumpers, and Tasmania head coach Scott Roth expressed his disappointment in Melbourne counterpart Dean Vickerman’s comments ahead of Game 1 of the Championship Series, which appeared to mock Roth’s rallying cry.

Vickerman said “Scotty’s going to talk about defending his little island as much as he wants to” via ESPN prior to the opening game of the series, in which Melbourne dispatched the JackJumpers by 23 points.

“I’m hoping that was taken out of context by Dean, but it was quite disappointing to be quite honest with you,” Roth said prior to Game 1.

“Tasmania seems to be the butt of every joke and people want to punch down at that place and, for me, when I went down there they said ‘you’re not going to succeed down there, you’re not going to be welcome down there, it’s a different place’.

“My three years have been nothing but love from that whole community.

“I was lucky enough to come up with ‘defend the island’ and that’s the rallying cry not just for basketball, but really for the entire state to be proud of what they’re doing. They’re hard-working people there, they’re proud of what they’re doing and I’m a little disappointed by that comment.”

Derek Rucker, however, backed Dean Vickerman’s comments ahead of the opening tip.

“I get it, you hear all this noise about ‘defend the island’ and it starts to rub people the wrong way. Although the sentiment is noble, we get it,” Rucker said.

“It was starting to bother me, and I backed Dean Vickerman. I have to go down to Hobart (for Game 2) and I’ll deal with it then. Right now, I’m backing Dean Vickerman.”

Game 2 of the Championship Series between Tasmania and Melbourne will tip off at 7:30pm AEDT on Friday, live on ESPN via Kayo.