Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Basketball legend Lauren Jackson believes the WNBL’s first expansion team in a decade is in for an “incredible” foundation season.
The Tasmania Jewels will become the WNBL’s ninth franchise from the 2026/27 season, more than a decade after the league last expanded with the addition of the South East Queensland Stars in 2015.
Expansion sides the Stars, Logan Thunder and Christchurch Sirens have all been crushed by financial difficulties and forced to exit the league since the turn of the century.
But Jackson is hopeful for the Jewels, who have already signed Opals representatives Keely Froling, Steph Reid and Darcee Garbin to their inaugural roster.
“I think the Jewels are going to do incredible,” Jackson told AAP.
“Going through the facilities that they’ve got ready for the athletes, the team that they’re putting together. I think they’re going to have a really great year.
“What they’re trying to build down there is going to elevate the rest of the league. It’s amazing.”Working in their favour, the Jewels are owned by the same asset management firm that purchased the NBL’s Tasmania JackJumpers last year.
The JackJumpers have been a raging success since entering the NBL in 2021/22 making the championship series that season and winning their first title in 2024.
The Jewels and JackJumpers will have equal share of the new high-performance facilities built with Tasmania state government funding
Both are run by the same management team headed up by former Melbourne Victory chief executive Trent Jacobs.
The Jewels’ finances appear sturdier than previous WNBL expansion sides, given JackJumpers sponsors have jumped on board.
WNBL and NBL chief executive David Stevenson said there was a key aspect of the JackJumpers’ model the Jewels needed to emulate for early success.
“My personal view is they (the JackJumpers) did an incredible job of connecting with the community,” he told AAP.
“(Coach) Scott Roth, when the players come back for their first day of training, he sends them out to go and spend time working in local businesses, he gives them an appreciation of local communities.
“If you can keep building those community connections, people have an emotional connection that they want to be able to come and support the team.”
Foundation player Reid is confident the Jewels are well positioned to compete for a championship in their first season.
“I don’t go anywhere not to win,” the guard told AAP.
“That’s absolutely the goal, that’s absolutely what we’re aiming for. I think we’re putting a really strong team together.”
