Roth: 'JackJumpers in for the fight'

If any team can overcome adversity, it's the Tasmania JackJumpers.

Time and time again over their first three years in the competition, the JackJumpers have been battered, bruised, written off ... time and time again they've managed to perform. 

With Will Magnay out for almost the entirety of the regular season due to a fractured toe, many in the NBL community have been quick to write off the JackJumpers' chances.

“It’s going to be some rough sledding for the JackJumpers,” Damon Lowery said on NBL Now.

“He’s the backbone of that team ... he’s the one player they could ill afford to lose.

“He was the anchor and now they’re anchor-less. It’s going to be tough.”

Championship coach Scott Roth has seen it all before, and isn't fazed. 

“People may be right, we might not win another game. But that’s sports,” Roth told NBL Media.

“The ups and downs ... we will never stray from our culture or our values which separates us in good times and bad times.”

But Lowery believes that this injury to Magnay is going to be the biggest challenge to date for the reigning champs.

“It is a crushing, devastating blow to the JackJumpers,” he said.

“He was playing so good, he was in All-NBL form."

After a slow start to the season, Tasmania has roared back into the post-season contention by winning their last five games.

The loss of Magnay is a big one, but it's worth noting Magnay missed 10 games in the regular season last year, when the JackJumpers won the championship. 

Put simply, they tend to find a way to win.

“It’s next man up, jump in and enjoy the fight,” Roth said about the message to his team.

After their fairytale start to their inaugural season, falling short in a Championship Series to Sydney, the JackJumpers began year two losing three straight games and being down double-digits to Brisbane in Game 4.

They clawed back to send that game into overtime and get their first win of the season and ended up marching all the way to another top four spot.

The fairytale was far from done though, when Tasmania battled through losing eight games by five points or less last season and peaking at the right time to win their first ever NBL championship.

The loss of Magnay is a big hurdle to overcome, but with a new piece added to the puzzle, Ian Hummer, and a resurgence in their form, perhaps it will just build the JackJumpers' resilience even further.