- 4 months ago
The Examiner's Josh Partridge, Ben Hann and Ryan Bentley discuss a momentous week in Tasmanian basketball as the state earns the ninth WNBL licence.
Video by Paul Scambler
Video by Paul Scambler
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00:00Welcome, my Arnold, to that episode of The Press Box, episode 99, we're nearly there.
00:05My name is Ben Hand, joined alongside a full team, I should say, Ryan Bentley and Josh
00:12Partridge, as always, and, well, it is, you know, one away, that episode, but, you know,
00:1899 will have, will live in its own history as a great episode, I'm sure, but to get it
00:22started, of course, it's numerology.
00:27So, boys, I've got a pretty straightforward one, I had a little bit of a feeling in the
00:31back of my head this morning that there was a 99 that fit, in this instance, northwest
00:36Tasmanian's ball, let's go greater northern Tasmanian's ball, because I reckon he would
00:39have been a raider if it was a thing, back in the day, very exciting, boys, of course,
00:43Ben Hilfenhaus, the famous sort of funny action right arm swing bowler, took some beautiful
00:50wickets, in fact, he took 99 test wickets, including that terrific one against Pakistan,
00:56is the one I remember at the SEG, where he just, I think it was Salman Budd or something
01:00like that, just had a ball in there.
01:01I think I've got an Andrew Strauss one in my head as well.
01:03Yeah, yeah, LBW.
01:05Does a fair bit.
01:05Yeah, yeah, no, brilliant bowler on his day, of course, Olberstown's finest, and, yeah, with
01:12that to come, we've got, you know, we've straightened to another segment, it's one that's taking,
01:16you know, the nation by storm, I dare say, this podcast, and that is, of course, Ryan's incredibly
01:22difficult sports quiz.
01:26Yes, the critical sports quiz is back for another week, and we're following on cricket and number
01:3299, it's a beautiful segue, it's a simple question, international cricketers have been
01:36out on 99 in all forms, men and women's.
01:41All of them?
01:42All forms of cricket.
01:44How many international cricketers have been out on 99?
01:47Oh, I, no, I'm not going to say name them.
01:49Yeah, right, uh, how many, there's got to be many, doesn't there?
01:54Well, that's how this segment works.
01:56All right, thank you, Ryan, uh, I'll lock an answer in, because I've had a random number
02:00just come to the brain, I'm going to go with 246.
02:04That's a lot.
02:05I'm going to go with, I don't think there's that many good batters, I think 105.
02:11Well, Ben, I believe you are, once again, the winner.
02:14If I get my numbers out, it is 141.
02:17Well done, Ben, well done.
02:19I don't think either of us can be too heartily congratulated by that effort, but, you know,
02:27I think, uh, is that to put me into the lead?
02:29I think it might have been into the lead 3-2, I believe.
02:31I've certainly been spooked by my unders in the field of the goals.
02:35Severely unders, yes.
02:36A couple of weeks ago, so.
02:37Time to reset and recharge.
02:39Now, it is a basketball-heavy episode today.
02:42There's been a lot of massive news in the basketball world, especially in Tasmania.
02:47It's been ongoing in some spaces.
02:49In others, it's brand new.
02:51So, we're, of course, kicking off hot off the press is that Tasmania has its own WNBL franchise.
02:57It's been something long in the works, so I'll go to you with that, Josh, in a second.
03:01But, Ryan, take us through, I suppose, what has happened and unfolded in the last 24 hours.
03:06Yes, so, the Jackjumpers announced that they have earned the ninth licence for the WNBL to enter in the 2026 and 2027 season.
03:16Obviously, massively exciting.
03:17It's been in the works for a fair while, I think, since 2021, perhaps.
03:22So, yeah, it's really exciting.
03:23And, hopefully, for us in the north here, half the games, they're looking to play half the games in the greater northern area between Launceston and Devonport,
03:31which is all dependent on the precinct of Devonport getting finished.
03:34And those Silverdome upgrades that we've been waiting for for such a long time.
03:37Starting.
03:38Actually, starting and getting done, hopefully.
03:40So, exciting times for women's sport and women's basketball.
03:43Yeah, so, in reality, that will look something like two or three games a season in Launceston, specifically,
03:48depending on various other things, as you mentioned.
03:52Josh, this has not been something that has sprung up on us, let's just say.
03:57Take us through, I suppose, just how long Tasmania has been waiting for this moment.
04:02Yeah, I suppose when the Jackjumpers first came into play in 2021-22, it was something that was kind of mentioned then,
04:09that they would be keen to add a women's side to that.
04:12And that was, from there, I suppose, they were aiming for the 2023-2024 season.
04:16Obviously, that didn't happen, and they're starting 2026-2027.
04:21So, we had a separate WNBL game in Launceston, March 2022.
04:26It was the Southside Flyers versus Bendigo Spirit.
04:28So, we kind of dipped our toe into the water there.
04:32And, yeah, I think, as you've kind of reported as well, a lot of people have reported before your time,
04:38that it's just kind of been churning along in the background since then.
04:41And the real noise has kind of come in the last, was it six to 12 months they had the interview at the Silverdome
04:47when the Jackjumpers played here last year, or early this year even, whatever that was.
04:53That's been, I guess, ticking along since then.
04:56So, it's really awesome to see the Tassie women getting this opportunity.
05:00Yeah, no, it's certainly something that I think, as Sarah Beal put it, you know,
05:03you can't be what you can't see, you know, used a lot of buzz phrases and buzz words,
05:07but I think they all do apply.
05:09I think it's a really important moment for women's sport in this state.
05:12You know, it's obviously such a growing product, and it does bring us very neatly onto the NBL One South.
05:18Of course, Launceston has its own NBL One South women's team, the Launceston Tornadoes.
05:23We've covered this at length in the paper online and, of course, a little bit in the press box as well.
05:29But, Ryan, there has been fresh updates to this.
05:32What has been quite a circus in the MBL One South this off-season.
05:36Yes, somewhat surprisingly, I think, to outsiders, insiders, I think, had a little bit of an idea.
05:41But the Hobart Chargers requested with basketball Tassie to go into recess on Friday, which was quite a shock.
05:48They talked about being around, they're needing about $300,000 more to operate, which is quite a hefty sum.
05:54So, they're having another meeting tonight as we are recording this, Tuesday.
06:00So, perhaps something will come out of that.
06:03But, changing to the Tornadoes, they've made it clear that, obviously, there needs to be two NBL One South teams in Tasmania to make it function, essentially, to convince Victorian teams to come down here.
06:14But, it can't be a North and a North West team because the economy is not big enough to support two teams in their belief.
06:20And, it kind of defeats the purpose.
06:22They want a statewide pathway.
06:24If you're cutting out the South, the state, it doesn't really matter.
06:28It doesn't, what's the point, basically, for them?
06:30Yeah, absolutely, yeah.
06:31It says a bit about maybe the statewide program is the best thing to underpin a national team.
06:38But, yeah, it has been something that has, you know, carried on for quite a while.
06:43And, God, the North West Thunder and the Lausanne Tornadoes famously not seeing eye-to-eye right at the minute about the best way to go about the future of Northern Tasmanian basketball.
06:53And, the changes here has certainly not helped the situation.
06:56But, I think, eventually, basketball will find a way forward here.
07:03The sport is facing too much growth.
07:05And, there's just too much goodwill with the sport in this state for it to fall over.
07:10So, I don't see it getting to that stage.
07:13But, certainly, it sounds like a lot of really important things need to be ironed out before we can get back to the good news of what happens next season.
07:20Anyway, we will then now move, of course, to a segment that has...
07:26Sorry, I nearly forgot.
07:28How could I forget the landmark segment?
07:30Have you nearly forgot your own segment?
07:31Oh, dear.
07:32Wow, wait.
07:33No, we can't forget that.
07:34And, that is, of course, Hanny's Hard Hitting.
07:37And, it is a fun one.
07:39So, I'm going to ask you guys to get your creative juices out.
07:44You are journalists, after all.
07:45So, I'm going to need some, your best name ideas for the new Tasmania Jackjumpers WNBL team.
07:53Of course, it cannot be called the Tasmania Jackjumpers.
07:55It has to be a separate logo, a separate entity, effectively.
07:59So, I will go with you first, Josh, please.
08:02Can I please get, what's a name idea that you might want to come up with?
08:06Well, I was kind of thinking, it was kind of discussed when the Jackjumpers came in about going back to the past a little bit.
08:12So, the past, we had the Islanders were our last WNBL franchise.
08:17And, it's always interesting whether you go back to the past or set a new wave of ideas and things like that.
08:24So, I'll throw the Islanders into the mix a little bit.
08:27But, I think the whole Jackjumpers theme needs to come along.
08:32Whether it's Queen Ant or whatever you've got there, whatever a female ant is, I'm not really quite sure.
08:39I tried Googling it and it came up with a whole heap of words I've never seen before.
08:43So, yeah, I think something along those lines might be where that'd be going, I'd imagine.
08:49Insect etymology, not our strong suit.
08:52Ryan, what have you come up with?
08:53Well, I was going along the whole Island State theme and we were surrounded by water.
08:58And, I just thought the Tasmania wave, it has a nice little ring to it.
09:01And, I just think it'd be nice that we could do a little bit of, well, obviously they call it the Mexican wave.
09:06But, we could have the Tasmania wave going around your arenas on a Saturday afternoon or whenever that's played.
09:11So, I think something like that, the wave would do quite nicely.
09:14Any jobs in sports marketing going?
09:16Ryan Billing is now.
09:17Oh, wow.
09:17And, I'm going to go with a bit of a Tassie, something that's distinctly Tassie, but also speaks to that height-based part of the sport, which is, of course, you know, basketball is very much a tall man's game or a tall woman's game in this instance.
09:32And, so, therefore, I'm going to go with the Tasmanian Timbers.
09:36Hugh and Pine, obviously, is a famous Tassie Timber.
09:40But, I think Tasmanian Timbers, I think, would work well.
09:43And, also, that little alliteration as well, I'm a big fan of.
09:45But, yeah, who knows?
09:47It's a bit of fun, a bit of games.
09:49That is, of course, going to bring us on to, now, the other segment that just goes on leaps and bounds every week.
09:56We have, you know, hundreds of people texting, you know, Josh, I, Ryan, that, you know, can my friend, can I even be, of course, this award recipient,
10:08as, of course, Josh's local hero of the week.
10:12Well, we spoke just then, Ben, about tall timbers, and that links perfectly.
10:15We've done some great segues in today's show, but my local hero of the week is Danny Hall,
10:19who retired from NCFA footy after 500-plus games, 45 years old on the weekend.
10:27So, yeah, congratulations to him.
10:29Yeah, big win against the big old rival of St. Pat's as well, big upset.
10:33So, I think, what a way to end a senior career.
10:36And he's only just beaten out Nassai Wanganeen Malira that I was going to try and weave in somewhere as the local hero.
10:43So, well done, Danny.
10:44That is the biggest news in football this week, obviously.
10:47The Esplanade Hotel, absolutely.
10:48Get that one over the line for those who know Melbourne well.
10:53Anyway, that's all the time we have.
10:54We'll see you guys for the next one.
11:06We'll see you guys for the next one.
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