Jakens as surprised as anyone to celebrate 250 in Willetton blue

Jess Jakens has found an unexpected new home at the Willetton Tigers in 2023 having been the mainstay of the Perth Redbacks for most of her 250-game career and she's as surprised as anyone, but has allowed herself to think of a fairytale NBL1 West championship.

If you think of the Perth Redbacks over the past 10-plus years and two players instantly come to mind, Joel Wagner on the men's side and Jakens in the women's team.

She became the heart and soul of the team. She was the hardest worker, the spirit of the group and she ended up becoming the captain of a team that showed flashes of competing for a championship especially in 2018 and 2021, but ultimately there were tough years than good ones.

There were times that it looked like Jakens was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders with that Redbacks team and by the end of 2022 after another tough season with just four wins, she just needed a break.

Initially Jakens was going to take a complete break from basketball in 2023 and see what the refresh would do to her outlook ahead of 2024, but then championship winning coach Simon Parker got in touch.

Almost instantly, Jakens found it impossible to not be excited about the prospect about joining a team that is perennially contending for a championship and where she could just go about her business quietly without having that same pressure to lead and inspire the group.

Jakens now will reach her 250th game in the league this Saturday night with the Tigers at home to the Mandurah Magic – ironically the same team that broke Jakens and the Redbacks' hearts in two nail-biting semi-final match ups back in 2018.

Reaching the 250-game milestone

Getting to the 250-game milestone for Jakens has given her a chance to reflect on the journey to get there. 

While it's a nice and significant number to reach with 233 of those appearances having come at the Redbacks, for the 28-year-old it's more about the people that it's brough her close to along the way that is what means the most.

"On reflection, it's given me a good opportunity to kind of look at the people that I've met along the way and the things that I've been able to achieve, and the opportunities I've been given because of basketball," Jakens said.

"I think realistically, it looks a lot different to what I thought 250 games would look like 12 or 18 months ago but I'm really happy and settled that it's going to be this weekend and in a blue uniform. 

"I think that also ties into having the opportunity to meet new people and grow those friendships and relationships out of what was my comfort zone for a long time. That's really paying dividends and I'm really grateful for this chance to get to play 250 games. My body sure feels every one of them at this point."

As surprised as anyone it's not in a red uniform

A lot of people might still be surprised to see Jakens playing with Willetton and no longer running around in the red uniform given how entrenched she was at the Redbacks, but her family as well.

If she is honest, nobody is more surprised than Jakens herself especially after losing to Willetton only in the 2021 preliminary final, but she just felt she needed a change and while that didn’t initially mean playing for a rival club, she couldn't be happier with how it's turned out.

"I'm definitely as surprised about it as anyone. It definitely wasn’t an easy decision to make and it took a lot of pondering and a lot of time," she said.

"I actually ended the 2022 not going to play at all in 2023, that was my initial intention and I was going to take a year off to just see where I was work wise, life wise, basketball wise and reassess again after a year off. 

"So it wasn’t until late last year that someone had caught wind I wasn’t playing for Redbacks and not actually wanting to play at all, and obviously Simon was one of those people. He changed my tune on it and it's definitely surprising for me in a lot of ways I'm not in a red uniform, and I think it surprised a lot of other people too. Probably me the most though."

What was it like joining Willetton

Jakens started her SBL career with the Redbacks back in 2011 as a teenager and ever since she never seriously considered playing anywhere else, and she dedicated herself to the club and her team as fully as very few other players ever do.

In the end, the pressure of being that leader who was looked up to lift and inspire the team, and set the standards took its toll on Jakens. She might be being harsh on herself, she felt it all led to her no longer being the positive influence she always prided herself on being.

That's why Jakens decided that by the end of the 2022 season, she needed to step away from the Redbacks and whether it was just a one year break to get a fresh outlook or if it was a forever thing, she knew that she needed to get a perspective on life after how full on the last 11 years had been.

"I thought it would be much more strange than it actually has come to fruition of being. I think that's a real testament to Willetton and the culture they've built, and the welcoming they've provided me," Jakens said.

"It feels weird but it doesn’t at the same time, it kind of feels like I've found the sort of comfort that I might have been missing the last couple of years. It's also a bit of the removal of the responsibilities that I had as the captain at Redbacks and I've just got the freedom to play again. 

"To be in that position as a leader is a huge privilege at the same time which is what made my decision really hard to leave because a lot of people work really hard to be a leader or captain of their club. 

"I didn’t want that to be portrayed as something I didn’t care about or value because that wasn’t at all true. But it was just the timing of it all where I was ready to relinquish that responsibility in a way that allowed other people to step into that role but also allow me to align more so where my values were. 

"Quite honestly I didn’t think I was contributing in my role as a captain or leader in the way that I should have been anymore so that was another reason why I was ready for something new. I felt past my used by date and that it would only be a detriment to everyone to stay in the role I was at Redbacks."

Embracing Simon Parker as a coach

Jakens wasn’t quite sure what to expect from her new coach at Willetton, Simon Parker, either before coming on board. 

However, now that she's been coached by him for 16 games and several months, it hasn’t taken her long to realise why he's a multiple championship winning coach, and so universally liked and respected throughout the WA basketball community.

"I actually really enjoy being coached by Simon. I think he's got a good balance of being able to create a rapport with his team and having some personality about that as well," she said.

"At the same time, he is able to create an atmosphere and environment where people buy in, and they respect him and are happy to follow his lead and believe what he says. 

"I think for me that's a really great asset and takes the thinking of on-court stuff and the off-court stuff away from what I was used, and I just get to seamlessly come in to just play and not have to worry about all those other things. 

"My communication with Simon has been really good both on and off court, and he's that something that I really respect and value in a coach."

Prospect of competing for a championship 

Now the ultimate benefit of Jakens joining Willetton in this fresh start to her career could be what's possible over the next five weeks.

Even the fact that the Tigers are guaranteed of playing in the finals well and truly and are still sitting in second spot with two weeks remaining is unusual for her and a bit of a pinch yourself moment.

"It's really exciting and I even had to have a laugh about how we had already secured a finals spot about three weeks when it felt like every other year we had to rely on someone to beat someone else by X amount of points or for us win the last three games just to make it," she said.

"That's not a bad thing, it's just a different situation to what I've been in and also having to have the responsibility of being a captain or leader is nice to know that it wasn’t on my shoulders to do it or to keep us going or anything."

The other great benefit that Jakens has enjoyed about playing with the Tigers this season is the way she's just been allowed to go out and play, and go about her business with no pressure on expectations either in terms of numbers or leadership.

With Willetton having superstars Desiree Kelley and Alex Sharp along with new import Melissa Brcaninovic and emerging players like Sophie Doran and Amy Jacobs, Jakens has embraced the chance to just go out and do what she does best – hustle, rebound and defend. 

"Having Mel, Al and Dessie who are absolutely athletes and incredible people in themselves is amazing to be able to call them teammates, and even Dors (Sophie Doran) as well," Jakens said. 

"She might be really young but even in pre-season while Dessie and Sharpy were still involved with the Lynx, she really stepped into her role as an emerging leader and I was so impressed with how she commands the team herself at such a young age. 

"If you put a group like that together on the floor and I just kind of get to come in and do some grunt work, and just do the parts of basketball that I feel like I can contribute the best to a team in without having the full responsibility of driving everyone else as well. 

"It all has seemed to seamless fit in a situation that I wasn’t really expecting but am really grateful for and am loving being part of."

While the Redbacks did have a top two finish back in 2018 before those two one-point semi-final losses to Mandurah, and also reached a preliminary final in 2021, for the most part competing for a championship wasn’t quite on the agenda.

That's changed joining a Willetton team who made last year's grand final, has won nine women's championships in the league and the last was only in 2021. 

Success is something common at the Tigers in the women's program and that's why Jakens has allowed herself to think just what might be possible over the next five weeks.

"I have allowed myself to think of the possibility of winning a championship. Back in 2018 was probably the last time I had been part of a team that kind of had a chance to get to the pointy end of the season where we could visualise what was might have been possible," Jakens said. 

"Even then we had a lot of people on that team who had never been a part of a team that made a late finals run before. 

"But now with this team, I have really great faith in my teammates who are senior players and experienced players, and their professionalism and experience of playing in a multiple of different leagues and even in the NBL1. 

"There are players who have been part of those championship runs at Willetton and I feel almost a sense of calm that we're going to be able to get to the pointy end if that is how the cards fall, and get it done rather than be apprehensive about how we'll go. I'm excited but I feel settled about it too."