Tasmania JackJumpers set to put Will Magnay through game-day fitness test for New Zealand clash

Magnay escaped any structural damage to his leg after leaving the loss to South East Melbourne injured on Christmas Day.

And while his potential omission is compounded by the loss of forward Majok Deng (ankle sprain) for four weeks, JackJumpers captain Clint Steindl was still hopeful on Sunday that Magnay may not miss any more basketball.

“We are wrapping our arms around them (Deng and Magnay), but hopefully ‘Mags’ is good to go,” Steindl said.

It was a tough outing for Tasmania on Christmas Day, going down 85-77 to the Phoenix, with the loss the JackJumpers third at home in NBL24.

“We need to start taking advantage of playing on our home floor given we have dropped a couple now consecutively,” Steindl said.

“Being able to build momentum at home is huge and we just haven’t been able to do that over the past few so Monday is going to be an important one.

“You see across the league that any team can get the win if you don’t bring you’re A-game. You look at the game against South East Melbourne and we gave up 24 offensive rebounds.

“18 of them were in the first half, and that takes its toll over the full 40 minutes even though a lot of the damage was done in the first 20.

“It can be something as little as that, one aspect of the game, and you are playing catch-up the whole night. We have a few areas to tidy up and things we’ve looked at on a scouting report so hopefully we can be back in the winning column.”

With their NBL24 series currently tied at 1-1, Steindl was again expecting another tough contest against the Breakers who are in the midst of a three-match winning streak.

“It’s always physical with them (Breakers) with just the way both teams go about it,” he said.

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“They have some personnel coming back that makes them even stronger and we haven’t seem (Zylan) Cheatham since the pre-season when we played them.

“He adds another element to their game in being able to play above the rim so it’s going to be another tough one for us.”

Monday’s game kicks off at 4pm from MyState Bank Arena.

Originally published as Tasmania JackJumpers set to put Will Magnay through game-day fitness test for New Zealand clash