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Aug 2, 2025
'Greater collaboration': Thunder faces new curve ball in bid to stay alive
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The Advocate Jacob Bevis The advocate
A considerable curve ball has been thrown into the North West Thunder's quest to stay alive in the NBL1, with the club keeping its cards close to its chest.
Basketball Tasmania (BTas) announced it would work in collaboration with the Thunder and Launceston Tornadoes on a joint licence bid, after not endorsing the proposals submitted by each club.
It's seen Basketball Victoria, the administrators of NBL1 South, set a new deadline of August 29 for the two clubs to submit the bid for a Northern Tasmania license in the semi-professional competition.
The new deadline is more than three weeks after the governing body of Victorian basketball was scheduled to make an announcement.
The Thunder did not wish to comment on Friday.
BTas said it has appointed a project manager to prioritise a collaborative submission that best represents northern stakeholders.
While acknowledging both submissions were "thorough, professional and met all requirements", Btas believed "greater collaboration" was required.
It remains confident that the licence submission will provide Northern Tasmania with a pathway to participate in NBL1 South.
Basketball Victoria announced in April that the men's and women's teams in the North and North-West must operate under the same licence.
After discussions broke down between the Thunder (men) and Launceston Torndoes (women), the two parties submitted their own applications before the Friday, July 18 deadline.
Thunder's submission received the backing of the North West Basketball Union last month, with Penguin president Greg Miller questioning the "long-term continuity" of the Tornadoes' model.
He said all eight NWBU clubs were concerned that if the new Northern Tasmania model is "not sustainable, and it falls over, we lose that pathway."
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