JackJumpers now steady for hectic schedule

Eight days in between games might have meant the Tasmania JackJumpers were shaking off some rust in Sunday's loss to the Perth Wildcats, but now the opposite will go into full effect with five games in 11 days.

The JackJumpers were just starting to find some winning form and momentum again with wins against the South East Melbourne Phoenix and Cairns Taipans before having an eight-day lead in to hosting the Wildcats at MyState Bank Arena on Sunday.

Dealing with that many days in between games is something Roth can see the positives in if players are nursing niggling injuries and trying to get healthy, but it's a largely healthy JackJumpers squad right now aside from Anthony Drmic and Kobe Williamson.

They were just building some good form too particularly inside with Will Magnay and Josh Bannan, with David Johnson having a match-winning burst late in Cairns, and Bryce Hamilton continuing to prove he's among the elite players in the league.

Following Sunday's game, Tasmania play Melbourne United away on Tuesday before hosting the New Zealand Breakers on Boxing Day, then hosting the South East Melbourne Phoenix on December 29, and closing out 2025 away to the Illawarra hawks.

It felt like it was a JackJumpers team trying to find their groove again in the eventual nine-point loss at home to the Wildcats on Sunday as they now are in the middle of a hectic schedule.

"We just talked about that a bit and it's one of those two-edged swords for all the teams when you get a week off and you can spend it just about any way you want to spend it," Roth said.

"It can be good or bad for you and whatever it may be, but the only time in my opinion from a players standpoint it's good is if you're hurt and have enough time to recovery during that time to go play again.

"But I think for a player they love playing every two or three days, and we were off about seven day and that might have made us a little sluggish, but ultimately they were just better than us."

After playing their last home game before Christmas on Sunday with that loss to the Wildcats, the JackJumpers have one more game to get through before they can think about enjoying the festive season.

The next challenge is taking on the second placed Melbourne United at John Cain Arena on Tuesday night in what is scheduled to be an open air game, and Roth is fully aware of the challenge their old rivals present.

"We'll get to that open air game or maybe not open air game, and we'll just recoup ahead of that and start our video work as we travel, and get there in the evening," Roth said.

"Then we'll have a good shootaround on Tuesday morning and just go back to work. They've obviously very, very good and they're in their home building before they make their long trips out of there with the Australian Open coming. It should be a good game."

Roth does have memories of his first experience in an NBL open air game when he was first at the Perth Wildcats as an assistant coach, and what he remembers is that scoring was almighty challenging with the elements playing a part.

Last year the JackJumpers were supposed to be part of one too but the roof was only open at half-time to allow the fireworks to be seen so Roth isn’t quite sure if he's for it or not heading into Tuesday night at John Cain Arena.

"Last year we played in kind of the open air game and they opened it up to show the fireworks to everyone at half-time and then they closed it right away again," he said.

"Then in my first year in Perth we played Melbourne and it was open the whole evening, and the score was about 42 to 45 when it was all said and done because no one could score."

For the past two seasons the JackJumpers have hosted a Christmas Day game firstly against the South East Melbourne Phoenix back in 2024 and then against the New Zealand Breakers last year.

They played a Boxing Day game back in 2023 and it will be back to that schedule this season when they host the Breakers on Thursday, and Roth is relieved about that for everyone involved to get to enjoy Christmas a little bit more.

"Everyone here at the club is excited that we're not playing on Christmas so that's great for all the families and everyone here," Roth said.

"It's our first time in a while not playing on Christmas Day so I think like everybody else we'll finally just enjoy being home with our families and just relax a bit knowing we don't have to set up for a game and go through all the hard work that the front office does to put these games on.

"We're looking forward to it across the board here within the JackJumpers organisation to just have a break for Christmas Day at least."