Jarred Bairstow speaks on Hobart Chargers title hopes

Despite a renewed focus on local talent, a Hobart Chargers star is backing in the young guns to help chase back-to-back titles.

Hobarts Chargers star Jarred Bairstow believes they’ve got the squad to win back-to-back NBL1 South titles this season despite its renewed focus on the development of young local talent.

After a slow start to the season the Chargers now sit at 3-3 following an 82-71 win over the Melbourne Tigers in Hobart last Friday.

While coach Anthony Stewart has preached that this season is less about winning a title and more about providing opportunities for the young Tasmanians on his squad, one of his stars believes the team can achieve both.

“The goal is to win it all again,” Bairstow said.

“That’s always the goal regardless of who you have and I think we have a group capable of doing it so we’ve got to go out and do it.

“We are always trying to win regardless of who is out on the court and the [young] guys coming in have done an awesome job.”

Jarred Bairstow of the Chargers. Picture: Linda Higginson

Bairstow said a key tool in balancing the club’s title ambitions with the development of its youth was the leadership of American import Devin Watson.

Despite leading the NBL1 South conference with an average of 25.5 points per game, Bairstow said Watson had been just as valuable off the court.

“As far as imports I’ve seen in the league, he’s in the top five I’ve seen in my career in terms of pushing young guys along and leading the way at training and challenging them to be better,” he said.

“It’s awesome to have a guy like him on board to really drive that culture of trying to improve these young kids but win at the same time.”

Sam McDaniel Hobart Chargers who was MVP during the NBL1South grand final. Picture: NBL1

Bairstow was also full of praise for former JackJumpers teammate Sam McDaniel who had 30 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in the Chargers’ win over Melbourne to continue his strong back-court partnership with Watson.

“Yeah ‘Iso Sam’ has been huge. He loves to take it out himself and make a play and you need that from time to time,“ he said of McDaniel‘s ability to score in isolation plays.

“He’s been really good for us and he obviously had a big game on the weekend and he can lock it down on defence so it’s great to have a guy that can do it at both ends.”

After starting 0-2, Bairstow said it was an improvement on the defensive end that had the team starting to click.

“We played a lot better the last couple of games defensively as the first few games we were averaging about 105 points [against] so it’s good to get that trending in the right direction again. It's good to get a couple of wins under the belt and get things rolling,” he said.

The Chargers will look to go a game above .500 on Saturday when they hit the road to play Bendigo (2-5) before backing it up in Nunawading (4-2) on Sunday.