JackJumpers Must Embrace Mongrel Mentality

Friday, December 23, 2022

Tasmania JackJumpers guard Jack McVeigh says the high-character team has become too nice and they need to show their “mongrel” side on the court.

Tasmania seemed to be gaining momentum after a big win in Sydney two weeks ago but have lost two straight since then.

McVeigh believes the JackJumpers need to become more aggressive and adopt a dog-like mentality to intimidate opponents and get back to winning ways.

“We’ve got a good group of dudes and that’s been the conversation that maybe we’re too good (well behaved),” McVeigh said.

“Getting that little bit of dog and being nasty and sometimes that evolves to winning and playing a little dirty and mongrel and bringing that to the game.

“There’s a couple of things that go into that, whether it’s confidence or talk, but it’s about taking that fight form training to a game and doing it for a bit longer.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Can the JackJumpers stop their home losing skid, or will the Illawarra Hawks get back on the winners list at the expense of the Ants? ?<br><br>Find out live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel from 7:30pm AEDT <a href="https://t.co/vnGewxNQFe">pic.twitter.com/vnGewxNQFe</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1605722284911640576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 22, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Tasmania sit sixth on the ladder with an even 8-8 record. The JackJumpers need to figure out a way to sustain their style of play across an entire game according to McVeigh.

“Right now, I feel like we’re beating each other up and playing harder in training than we are when we’re out there,” McVeigh said.

“Guys are comfortable out there, we’re showing spurts of JackJumper basketball where you can see they’re playing on the back foot but it’s about doing it for 40 minutes.”

Tasmania have a chance to show a change in behaviour from good to bad when they play the bottom of the ladder Hawks at 7:30pm AEDT tonight.