Finnegan departs and JackJumpers pay tribute

The Tasmania JackJumpers are embarking on a new era without any involvement of Christine Finnegan but what the last home game and subsequent MVP Dinner did was provide a chance to give her a farewell she deserved.

Finnegan has been an integral part of the development, growth and now sustainability of the JackJumpers since the very beginning. Now as she returns to Melbourne, she leaves the club in a strong position and an exciting place with the Jewels to join the WNBL as of the 2026/27 season.

Finnegan initially made the move to Tasmania to join the JackJumpers back in 2020 as the Chief Commercial and Customer Officer where she was instrumental in setting up the club to become a force as the lone national sporting team based out of the state that didn’t play cricket.

She would then step into the role as Chief Executive Officer with the JackJumpers to continue the growth of the club and to now also be instrumental in getting the Jewels up and running ahead of their entry into the WNBL.

While she will now return to Melbourne and take up a role at Netball Australia, she left an indelible mark on the JackJumpers.

Head coach Scott Roth has worked hard in hand with Finnegan the whole way, and take the result out of it, was proud the JackJumpers were able to pay tribute to her at their last home game of the NBL regular season at MyState Bank Arena.

"I really wanted to win that game for Christine Finnegan to try and get this game across the line for her and her family that were in town," Roth said.

"It didn't quite work out that way but we did get to celebrate her at the end of the game which was great."

Given Finnegan has been such a close ally and confidant of Roth over the more than five years of them working together in Tasmania, he is well placed to reflect on what she has meant to the JackJumpers.

"She's just been a fantastic CEO, but even more than that she's been a great friend and always is on the forefront of trying to help everyone that she can possibly help," Roth said.

"She never says no to anything and she's just constantly there for you so over the last two or three years when she's completely slid into the CEO role, my biggest thing was to support her the best I can in the growth of her career.

"Now she's on her way and the journey will be fun to watch but to defend the island with her for the last three years especially in the mode that she was in now has been a great part of my career.

"She went through some stuff in the summer with some health issues too so her growth over the last two and-a-half years or so has been fantastic to see and it's not too often you have a woman CEO in this business.

"She's a ground breaker for a lot of women to aspire to so kudos to her obviously and we're going to miss her, but she's only a 50-minute flight away so she can't get too far."

At the recent MVP Gala Awards following the conclusion of the NBL regular season, Finnegan received the Spirit of the JackJumpers Award presented by the Spirit of Tasmania.

She also graciously donated her NBL24 championship ring back to the club to live at the soon to be completed High Performance Training Centre.