Tasmania JackJumpers chairman Steve Old has revealed the reason behind the club’s decision to part ways with highly-rated 17-year-old prospect Roman Siupela.
Siulepa, who was touted as a potential top talent, signed with the JackJumpers in June but will no longer be a part of the team.
Old explained that the decision was made after Siulepa chose to return to Brisbane and continue playing rugby, despite suffering injuries while representing Queensland.
“We asked him to sort of commit to the club and say that if he went back to Brisbane for the rest of the year that he wouldn’t continue to play rugby because we didn’t think it was going to be beneficial for his body,” Old said.
“He chose to go back to Brisbane and continue to play rugby.”
“So as a club, we had to make a decision around whether it was in the best interest of the 15 players that we had on our roster to continue to keep Roman in the club.”
“We’re not going to risk our club’s name and reputation.”
Old said the JackJumpers are not willing to wait around for players to decide if they want to play for the team.
“We’ve got 15 other dedicated players that want to be there and we want to make sure we move forward and we don’t slow up our program,” he said.
Despite the disappointment, Old acknowledged Siupela’s immense talent and wished him the best in his future endeavours.
“Roman is a young guy with immense talent at both rugby and basketball,” he said.
“I think he does want to make a commitment to basketball, but he’s probably not ready to do that yet.”
Siulepa signed a two-year ‘Next Stars’ contract with the JackJumpers in June with the expectation that he would join the team ahead of their pre-season.
The 6’7″ wing is regarded as one of Australia’s best 2006-born prospects, winning MVP of the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders Asia camp and MVP of the Australian U20 National Championship.
He was also named to all-tournament teams at the 2024 Albert Schweitzer tournament and 2023 FIBA U17 Oceania Championship, helping lead Australia to gold medals in both events.
