JackJumpers’ plane forced to turn around and head back to Melbourne following Tasmania’s pulsating win over United
In another bump in their incredible road to the NBL grand final, issues with the JackJumpers plane forced their flight home to Tasmania to turn around and fly back to Melbourne.
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Tasmania’s fairytale pursuit of an unlikely NBL championship is off to a rocky start with the plane they were travelling home from Melbourne on forced to turn back, mid flight.
After eliminating top-of-the-table Melbourne United, the expansion club was due to arrive at Hobart Airport on Tuesday afternoon.
SCROLL DOWN TO READ HOW HOMESICK JACKJUMPERS’ COACH SCOTT ROTH NEARLY QUIT CLUB
But mechanical issues on flight HBA QF1553 forced the Qantas plane to return to Melbourne as it was ferrying the JackJumpers home.
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Star forward Jack McVeigh said he slept through the whole flight.
“I start walking and I’m looking around and I’m like ‘I’ve never been to this part of Hobart Airport’,” McVeigh told Nine News.
“We walked a little further and then it clicked for me about 50m into the airport that we are currently still in Melbourne.
“We made some ham and cheese sandwiches in the Qantas lounge, some of the boys got some donuts from Krispy Kreme, myself included.”
The Jackies finally landed back home at around 8pm on Tuesday night, more than six hours after their initial planned arrival.
It meant a media opportunity with Jackies’ coach Scott Roth and game-three hero Josh Adams at Hobart Airport had to be cancelled as officials scrambled to find another flight.
Adams poured in 30 points on Monday night in one of the great elimination-game performances as the JackJumpers silenced the John Cain Arena crowd and vanquished the reigning champions.
The JackJumpers are scheduled to tip-off their best-of-five grand final series on Friday night against The Kings in Sydney.
History-making coach nearly walked away
At the end of his tether after more than a year away from his family, burned out Tasmania JackJumpers’ coach Scott Roth was ready to throw in the towel before a ball had even been tipped this NBL season.
Now, the 58-year-old rookie NBL head coach, named coach of the year in his debut season for the league’s brand new team, is three games away from the unlikeliest of championships.
The gritty JackJumpers on Monday night remarkably found a way past titleholders Melbourne United on their home court to reach the five-match grand final series against the Sydney Kings.
Roth revealed that, six months ago, he was ready to get on a plane, bound for Florida, to reunite with his family and see, for the first time, the new home he had built with wife Lorie.
Roth was an assistant coach in Perth in 2020-21 who immediately took on the JackJumpers role when that season ended. Then, when Covid lockdowns closed borders, he had no way of returning to the US.
Flanked by his captain and confidante Clint Steindl after the JackJumpers’ 76-73 win, an emotional Roth recalled the night after a pre-season game he was ready to call it quits.
“When you’re away from your wife for 14 months and your daughter for 18 months … it was getting difficult for me, mentally, to see if I’d ever actually get home to see them,” Roth said.
“(After playing) Cairns in the (pre-season) Blitz, I drove back from Launceston to Hobart. I was basically done.
“I don’t know if Clint remembered, but he tried to get in the car with me because I left so quick and I told him ‘no’.
“I drove two-and-a-half hours and all I was thinking about was just going to the airport and going home.
“I just mentally spent myself and probably wasn’t great to be around, in general.
“I was just crashing and burning.”
The JJ's way 🜠pic.twitter.com/mOiivkiwuh
— Tasmania JackJumpers 🜠(@JackJumpers) May 2, 2022
As the buzzer sounded on his team’s pulsating win, Roth’s thoughts immediately turned to his beloved family, and, soon after, they were on the court with him, thanks to the power of technology.
“The first thing that ran through my mind was obviously my wife and daughter back home who were up in the middle of the night these last two or three weeks watching every moment and texting me after every game,” he said.
“Had a little quick FaceTime with them right after the game on the floor, which is incredible.
“I wouldn’t be here without them, they saved me when I was about ready to pack it in here and go home.”
The whole state of Tasmania now has Lorie and daughter Dene – who have both since visited Australia – to thank for talking him around.
“Luckily (I had) a few conversations and I just held on,” he said.
“In my wildest dreams I never thought I would be here (in Australia) for almost two years and never be home to see a brand new house that I built that I’ve never seen or walked in.
“My wife and daughter, they kind of saved me and got me mentally back to where I should be and ever since that it’s been incredible and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.”
There’s more enjoyment to come.
The JackJumpers kick off the NBL grand final against the Sydney Kings at Qudos Bank Arena on Friday night.
No one expected them to be there and that’s just the way Roth, and the Jackies, like it.
SCOTT ROTH FACT FILE
> Born: June 3, 1963 in Cleveland, Ohio
> Age: 58
> Height: 203cm
> College: University of Wisconsin
> Position: Small Forward
> NBA Draft: 1985, Round 4, pick 82, San Antonio Spurs
> Opted to begin professional career in Turkey
> Joined Utah Jazz in 1987
> Played 160 NBA games with the Jazz, Spurs and Minnesota TImberwolved from 1987-90
> Averaged 4.7 points, 1.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists
> Finished basketball career in Europe before joining the Dallas Mavericks coaching staff in 1996, among five NBA teams he has experience with as an assistant.
> Spent time in Spain and the G-League before landing in Perth in 2020 as an assistant to Trevor Gleeson, the Wildcats winning the NBL title in his first season.
> Appointed coach of the new Tasmania franchise in January 2021, winning the NBL’s Coach of the Year and leading it to the grand final.
HOW THE JACKIES DID IT
> New Tasmanian franchise announced in February 2020.
> Scott Roth appointed coach in January 2021.
> Inked its first player in July 2021, Melbourne United’s Sam McDaniel, whose father Wayne played for the previous Tasmanian franchise, Hobart Devils.
> Named after a venomous ant famous for its ability to jump that is predominantly found on the Apple Isle. The name was chosen over Tridents after the NBL invited public submissions - there were more than 10,000.
> Tassie rock band Luca Brasi released a song ‘Jackies Are On the March’, which the players sing in the changeroom after every win.
> Defeated the Brisbane Bullets 83–74 in overtime to win their first-ever NBL game.
> Started the season 2-6 and the knives were out for import trio Josh Adams, Josh Magette and MiKyle McIntosh.
> Had to revamp entire gameplan when marquee big man Will Magnay went down with a knee injury - he played just 11 games.
> Became the first expansion club to defeat every other NBL team in its debut season.
> Won six of its last seven games to keep the finals dream alive.
> When South East Melbourne defeated Perth in the last game of the season, that dream was realised. Tasmania became the first brand new franchise to qualify for NBL finals in its inaugural season (there have been previous established clubs that have qualified in their first season in the league)
> Scott Roth wins Coach of the Year, Jack McVeigh wins the NBL’s community award and Josh Adams named to All-NBL second team.
> The fourth-seeded JackJumpers come back from 1-0 down in their semi-final series to shock the reigning champions, top-of-the-table Melbourne United.
> Tasmania will take on Sydney in the best-of-five grand final series, beginning Friday.
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