Inaugural Tasmania coach Claudia Brassard is adamant the Jewels will be playing to win and contest the championship — not just make up the numbers — when they join the WNBL next season.

Brassard, a former WNBL player, dual championship assistant coach and head coach of Townsville’s 2017-18 championship, was unveiled in Launceston on Monday and will now get to work assembling the club’s first roster.

The Canadian-born Sydney Olympian returns to the league for the first time since 2019 having focused on her career as an engineer and her family in recent years. She beat a field experienced candidates including Guy Molloy, Cheryl Chambers, and David Herbert who have all previously coached in the league.

Claudia Brassard will be Tasmania’s inaugural coach. Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images

“What was really important to me, and throughout the interview process, is that the vision is really clear, the vision is winning and playing playoff basketball right away,” Brassard told ESPN.

“We’re going to build our team around that, setting the standard right from the get-go and I think we can do that. We want to be the club of choice, known as the club where players come and get better in an amazing high performance and professional environment.

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“We’re looking at some key marquee signings that will be hopefully be locked away in the first couple of months and then build from that.”

After competing in the 2000 Games, Brassard stayed in Australia and played with the Bulleen Boomers before joining Townsville where she was an inaugural and long-time player before moving into coaching. She assisted Chris Lucas in the club’s first, then second, title in 2014-15 and 2015-16 and, after being appointed head coach, guided the Fire to glory in 2017-18.

Brassard has a wealth of experience through the Queensland and national pathways and has been on the coaching staff of several successful Australian junior women’s teams. Technically and tactically astute, she is a natural leader and builds strong relationships with her athletes and staff.

As an inaugural Townsville player and someone who’s been involved with the club and lived in the city ever since, Brassard has a unique insight into how to connect a club with its community — something the Fire sets the bar at.

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Her ‘other career’, as an engineer, also gives her another skillset and appreciation into the role sporting clubs play in a regional hub.

She says she will also draw inspiration from basketball sibling the Tasmania Jack Jumpers and what coach Scott Roth has created in the Apple Isle.

“What attracted me and why I wanted to coach this first Jewels team is really about getting to build a program from the start and that’s really exciting,” Brassard said.

“I want to align with how the Jack Jumpers have done it, their values and what’s important to a regional team and Tasmania and Tasmanians being tough, resilient and disciplined. All the things we’re going to instil from day one.

“There’s plenty of things I’ve taken out of my basketball experiences in Townsville but also from my day job of being an engineer — we work with the community, we’re always touching base, improving people’s lives and being able to connect with people which is something I really value especially in a regional community.”

The Jewels will be the WNBL’s ninth team and the first club out of Tasmania since the Hobart Islanders (1986-1996) who in 1991 won the championship, spearheaded by FIBA Hall of Famer Robyn Maher.