The secret sauce in Tassie's title triumph

What does it take to win a title? Great players, yes. A good coaching staff, of course. A bit of luck to swing your way, absolutely, but the Tasmania JackJumpers added a different dimension to their team since their addition into the NBL three seasons ago – that famous ‘Jackie way’.

The JackJumpers have set the benchmark for expansion teams across all of Australian sport. In their opening three seasons, they’ve finished in the top four three times and contested two Championship Series’ – one of which they won.

Will Magnay has been with the club since the beginning, and he believes the roster’s ability to keep things in perspective helped build the platform from which their NBL24 success was built.

“We never really took ourselves too seriously, we always respected the game and the job but had a lot of fun doing it, and we were willing to laugh at each other and laugh at ourselves,” Magnay said on NBL Overtime.

“I think it created this camaraderie and togetherness within the group. Obviously we’re all talented, and every team is talented and skilled, but if you look back at the season it’s four or five possessions could have changed the whole thing and we came out on top.

“It’s an amazing experience, and amazing group of guys, and I’m happy we’ve got a core locked away for the next few years.

“Roth sort of instilled in us from day one it’s not about the wins and losses, it’s how you go about it. That’s stuck with especially me and just swinging until the end, and when you know you have eight or nine other dudes on the team that are going to go down swinging with you, you feel alright about it.

“I think it was the way we did it which was special and made it feel like we really, really earnt it, and did it the way Tasmanians would do it – which was to play as many possible games as we could in the season.”

For how good Tasmania was in NBL24, the likelihood that the exact same roster comes back next season is slim to nil.

Magnay himself signed a two-year contract extension during the recent campaign, while star guard Milton Doyle will enter the second year of the extension he signed following his debut NBL23 season.

Magnay says the concept of running it back with the same group is “fool’s gold”.

“Yes, we won a championship, but there were some turbulent moments in the season where we were thinking if we were ever going to get back on track. Bringing the same team back can almost be a bit of fool’s gold,” Magnay said. “But that stuff’s way above my pay grade.

“I’ll leave that to the coaches, and Scott’s done a decent job recruiting so far, so I trust him to bring in some good players if whatever changes need to be made.

“At the end of the day whatever happens my job doesn’t change, I come in every day and play as hard as I can and try and drag everyone else along with me.”