A wet and miserable welcome to Tasmania did little to dampen the spirits of new JackJumpers Milton Doyle and Rashard Kelly, who arrived in Hobart yesterday.
Following a long journey from the United States, the import duo were taken directly to a press conference of local media, all keen to meet the new JackJumpers.
Flanked by head coach Scott Roth, the group posed for photos and discussed theer excitement about joining the JackJumpers for the 2022-23 season
“I’m excited about the program you guys have here and the things you’re trying to accomplish, I’m excited to be a part of it,” Rashard Kelly said.
“I’ve been following the league for a while now, ever since becoming professional, always wanted to be part of the NBL and Tasmania gave me a shot, no hesitation”.
Doyle echoed Kelly comments about playing in the NBL.
“I’m excited to see what its like this year, it’s my first time in Australia, i’m looking forward to everything.”
“I watched them a little bit last year, so im excited to be in the league,” Doyle said.
With Centre Will Magnay still likely to miss the start of the season with an ongoing knee injury, there will be additional expectation on the Kelly to step up and help inside. But there is no concern from Kelly about being ready to play, and is more than ready to take on the challenge.
“I’m just going to be tough, hungry, I don’t like losing so whoever i’m matched up against, that’s what they’ve got to deal with,” Kelly said.
“I’m a competitor, you know we could be playing Uno or Monopoly right now and I wanna win, so I’m just a competitor and Im going to compete every night to win.”
Meanwhile for Doyle, he will likely play the shooting guard role that has been left vacant by last seasons top scorer Josh Adams. Although he is not the flat out shooter that Adams was, he brings more size to the position, a strong defensive game and the ability to pass and score when required.
Doyle reflected on watching the JackJumpers playoffs run last season, and is keen to keep that going into season two.
“Its only been one year and you guys are used to winning, so I’ll try help out with that. The team chemistry is great, I think everybody plays their role well”
“I haven’t seen a group play defense like that, that just move together well, so i’m looking forward to tha,.” Doyle said.
Back to training, the Blitz and NBL season
Fellow import from season one also flew back into Tasmania yesterday, and the team will start training as a group on Thursday. The JackJumpers will head to Northern Tasmania for a training camp in early September, which concludes with two practice games against the South East Melbourne Phoenix in Launceston (Sep 6) and Ulverstone (Sep 8).
They then head to Darwin for the NBL blitz tournament on 17 September for three games against the Kings, Taipans and 36ers. Before opening the NBL season on 1 October against South East Melbourne Phoenix in Melbourne.
