BIO: Tonny Jensen was born in Wagga (NSW) and began playing basketball as a junior with the Queanbeyan basketball program.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Tonny Jensen made his NBL debut with the Sydney Kings at 20 years of age. He scored three points in his first game.

Townsville entered the NBL in 1993 as the league’s newest expansion franchise, debuting under the name “Townsville Suns” with local coach Mark Bragg at the helm and veteran Graham Kubank named captain. The team began the season with a roster featuring locals David Blades, Lucas Agrums, Jason Cameron, Tonny Jensen, and Kubank—most of whom had previously played for Townsville’s state league team—and paired them with imports Ricky Jones and Rimas Kurtinaitis.

Townsville’s first import signing, Rimas Kurtinaitis, a 33-year-old Lithuanian Olympian, made NBL history as the first European-born player to feature as an import.

Townsville’s maiden NBL game (17 April) was a loss to Newcastle (110–106) where Jones’ 47-point debut grabbed headlines, the rookie Jensen also quietly impressed in 14 high-energy minutes—scoring 14 points, dishing five assists and swiping a steal.

The Suns struggled out of the gate, dropping their first four games before recording their first-ever NBL victory—a 98–89 home win over Newcastle on May 14. With a sell-out crowd behind them, Townsville prevailed behind a combined 50+ points from Kurtinaitis and Jones. That result snapped a four-game losing skid and validated the team’s arrival in the NBL.

Jensen’s breakout arrived on 4 June against Geelong. Logging 44 minutes, he produced a triple-double of 22 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists and 4 steals, sparking a late comeback that fell just short (118–112). Six weeks later (14 August vs Canberra) he torched the Cannons for 21 points (7-for-10 FG) and 3 steals in another strong performance.

The Suns’ signature win was a 105–103 upset in Adelaide on 25 June, fuelled by Kurtinaitis’ 41 points and Jones’ 26-point, 12-rebound double.

In August, star forward Kurtinaitis (24.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.8 steals) left the team to sign with Real Madrid. As a result, Jensen’s role grew, his minutes climbing from 24 per game in May to 29 per game in the closing month.

Their fourth—and final—victory came on 13 August at Geelong (125–124) after Kurtinaitis’ departure, snapping a long losing streak in front of a raucous “Furnace” crowd. Townsville closed the campaign 4–22, collecting the wooden spoon but also a record string of home sell-outs.

Ricky Jones (28.0 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 2.2 blocks) led the NBL in blocks and won the club’s MVP award. Other key contributors during the Suns’ first season were David Blades (11.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 5.1 assists), Brian Andrews (10.2 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.8 assists), and captain Graham Kubank (6.0 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 2.5 assists).

Jensen (9.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 3.1 assists) was able to showcase his versatility in his rookie season, scoring in double figures 13 times, handing out 5+ assists on seven occasions, and finishing third among NBL rookies in steals.

NEWCASTLE FALCONS
1994
Newcastle overhauled its list in 1994, parting with leading scorer Everette Stephens and installing former league MVP Derek Rucker at the point, while Paul Simpson and Tonny Jensen (both via Townsville) were added to deepen the rotation.

Rucker opened with 18 assists in the season opener and exploded for 40 points in Game 2, but after an 0–3 slide coach Tom Wisman pushed him to lift the group, and the response came in Round 4 at Geelong when he dished 24 assists alongside a major scoring outburst to secure the first win of the year.

Newcastle finished the regular season 13–13, placed ninth, and missed the playoffs on the tiebreaker to the Illawarra Hawks despite identical records, underlining how costly the 0–3 hole proved by season’s end.

Derek Rucker (25.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, 10.6 assists, and 2.9 steals) authored an elite all-around campaign, led the league in assists, earned All-NBL Third Team honours, and powered a midseason climb that steadied the Falcons after the early setbacks.

Terry Dozier (20.8 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists), Michael Johnson (14.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.4 assists), and Tonny Jensen (13.4 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 3.2 assists) rounded out the chief contributors, giving Wisman multiple scoring options around Rucker’s orchestration.

1995
The 1995 season saw Jensen average 20.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 4.8 assists and play a key role in helping the Falcons to a eighth place finish in the regular season with a 17-9 record.

NORTH MELBOURNE GIANTS
1996
The Giants would return almost their entire roster in 1996 as the team looked to go one step further after finishing runners-up in 1995. The only roster changes being the addition of Tonny Jensen, a member of the Australian Boomers, who would replace the retiring Mark Leader and a returning Paul Maley would replace import Chris Jent after he delivered one of the greatest one and done seasons in NBL history.

Pat Reidy would lead the team in scoring, averaging 20.8 points as well as 6.9 rebounds, and 3.6 assists, while McDonald would deliver another stellar season, putting up 17.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, and a league leading 10 assists per game. Jensen would average 14.6 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.7 assists alongside the two stars and in a extremely close season, where only two games seperated third place and eight place. The Giants finished with a 15-11 record and in seventh place finish on the NBL ladder.

North Melbourne would face crosstown rivals South East Melbourne who would make quick work of the Giants behind a season high 19 points from Andrew Parkinson in game one, a 82-96 loss and a 25 point effort from Tony Ronaldson in game two, which resulted in a 77-87 defeat and the end to the Giants season.

At seasons end McDonald would again be named to the All-NBL First team.

NEWCASTLE FALCONS
1997
During the 1997 season, Jensen averaged 22.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 4.4 assists and was a part of the Falcons squad which finished in tenth place (12-18).

1998
After losing up and coming talent Scott McGregor (to Sydney) and Ben Pepper (to North Melbourne), coach Shawn Dennis made several changes to the roster, including moving on from aging imports Dave Simmons and Butch Hays. Dennis chose to replace Hays with Terry Johnson (via Illawarra), who, after delivering a number of productive seasons as a shooting guard, believed he could also make a import at the point guard spot. After the Hawks told him that he wasn’t a ‘point guards bootlace’ he headed to Newcastle, who were willing to give him a season running the point.

Newcastle added Tonny Jensen (via Townsville) and Marc Brandon (via Illawarra) to replace their local talent and then rounded out the roster by adding former Sydney Kings fan favourite Isaac Burton and highly credentialled NBA big man Todd Mundt as imports.

Newcastle lost their opening game to South East Melbourne (73–93) and went on to suffer defeats to Illawarra (92-96), Sydney (90–105) and Brisbane (90-92) before they chalked up their first win against Townsville (110–96).

While the loses continued to rack up, the unearthed a future star with Newcastle local Ben Melmeth lifting his production from 12.3 points and 8.0 rebounds to 21.6 points and 12.4 rebounds. As a result, Melmeth was selected to the All-NBL First Team and named Most Improved Player at the end of the season.

Johnson (10.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 4.1 assists) fared well in his new role, his play gaining him a spot at this years Boomers selection camp and Burton (19.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 2.2 steals), Todd Mundt (13.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 1.3 assists) and returning star Tonny Jensen (18.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.3 steals) delivered quality numbers as well. The lack of production came from the team’s bench, who combined to deliver 12 points per game in total, with new recruit Brandon (3.1 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 0.7 assists) the highest scoring player off the bench. As a result, the Falcons struggled to stay in front during any game during times they rested their starting lineup and finished the season in tenth place (9-21).

1998/99
Entering the 1998/99 season, the Falcons were in dire financial trouble, but on the brink of the season starting, they secured funds from a group of investors from Albury. As a result, the Falcons were able to retain local talent Ben Melmeth, Terry Johnson and import Todd Mundt but were forced to build the rest of the team on a shoestring budget. Somewhat luckily, Newcastle benefitted from the merger of South East Melbourne and North Melbourne, which saw Pat Reidy and import Butch Hays both former Giants players, without a team. With few NBL team’s having any space on their rosters at this stage, the Falcons were able to sign both at budget prices. Dean Brogan (via Adelaide), Rod Johnson (via Canberra) and legendary shot blocker Willie Simmons was lured out of retirement to play another season.

While obvious favourites to finish on the bottom of the ladder, the Falcons surprised everyone by winning five of their first six games.

Shortly after, reports of players not being paid their salaries surfaced, and the focus, motivation and production among the players began to wane. Mundt exited the team as a result of not getting paid on time and was replaced with Simmons (14.4 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 1.2 steals) who after a season playing with Sydney was sitting at home after being unable to find another new deal.

The remainder of the season then saw Newcastle record three wins from their next nineteen games before finally beating Perth (113–111) in their final game of the year.

Pat Reidy (17.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.1 steals) led the team in scoring, Ben Melmeth (17.5 points, 11.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.1 steals) led the team in rebounds while Terry Johnson (14.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 2.1 steals) delivered his best season at the point guard position and his brother Rod Johnson (11.4 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 3.2 assists) rounded out the team’s leading scorers. As a result of injuries Jensen saw his production take a major drop, falling from 18 points per game to 6.7 points.

After narrowly surviving the season before, this would prove to be the death knell for Newcastle, with the league stepping in to address their financial situation and its result being the removal of their NBL licence and the Falcons being forced out of the league.

CANBERRA CANNONS
2000/01
In 2000/01, Jensen returned for one final season. Although he wasn’t physically able to deliver the numbers he had previously, he added 8.8 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 1.0 assist per game as the Cannons finished with a dismal record of 3 wins and 25 losses.