BIO: Jarred Bairstow was born and raised in Brisbane (QLD) and began playing basketball as a junior with the South West Metro basketball program.

FAMILY: Jarred’s brother, Cam Bairstow also played 74 games in the NBL. Also, his sister Steph attended Utah State before forging a playing career in the NBL.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Jarred Bairstow made his NBL debut with the Brisbane Bullets at 24 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

In Bairstow’s first NBL season he played five games as a development player with the Brisbane Bullets during the alongside his brother Cameron. Bairstow averaged 0.2 points and was part of a Brisbane Bullets team which finished in eighth place with a 10-18 record.

PERTH WILDCATS
2020/21
After winning the previous season’s Grand Final after Sydney withdrew from the remaining two games due to COVID-19 health concerns, Perth struggled during the early stages of NBL21 as the league fought through a number of Covid obstacles. After losing Terrico White and Nick Kay to overseas offers, they chose to sign John Mooney to fill the enormous gap left in the team’s frontcourt. However, when the NBL chose to reduce the number of import roster spots from three to two, Perth was also unable to re-sign import Miles Plumlee.

After multiple delays to the start of the season, the competition began but without a permanent schedule, resulting in team’s finding out each week who and where they would play depending on Covid travel limitations.

Bairstow was later recruited to cover a injury to Majok Majok and played in 38 games, including 17 starts. He would average 1.9 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 0.8 assists as Perth struggled to find wins during this time. After five rounds, they sat in seventh place, which is when the league made the decision to move all teams to Melbourne, where it would play eight games as part of the NBL Cup, a attempt to continue the season while escaping Covid related travel restrictions.

It was there Bryce Cotton (23.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, 5.6 assists, and 1.5 steals) would boost his production, a move which in turn, allowed new signing Todd Blanchfield (via Illawarra) to benefit from the space provided from Cotton’s brilliance and deliver a career-best season. Blanchfield (15.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.6 assists) would set a Wildcat record for most three-pointers made in a season and paired nicely with Mooney (16.9 points, 11.4 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 1.3 steals) to form a powerful trio that soon led Perth back to the top of the ladder.

As the season entered its final round it seemed the Wildcats would be hoisting a third straight championship trophy. Fate would intervene, however, with Cotton suffering a season-ending injury during a loss to Melbourne (64–78) in their last game of the season. Cotton would go on to be selected as the league’s Most Valuable Player but was unable to suit up during in Perth’s playoff run.

After Melbourne knocked Perth out of the top spot on the ladder in round 13, a strong finish to the season saw United finish in first place (28-8), while Perth (25-11) claimed second position. After losing the opening game to Illawarra (72–74), Perth received a boost from Luke Travers (13 points and 10 rebounds), who, alongside John Mooney (18 points and 10 rebounds) led the Wildcats to a game two victory (79-71). In game three, Blanchfield (24 points and 5 rebounds) and Mitchell Norton (15 points and 4 rebounds) would step up in Cotton’s absence in game three and lift the undermanned squad over the Illawarra Hawks (79-71) in what was a wild semi-final series.

The Wildcats would then face off against a red-hot Melbourne United, who finished the regular season in first place and had been equally impressive all year.

Both games, one and two, were forced to be played in Perth due to travel restrictions. Despite a hot game from Blanchfield (27 points and 7 rebounds), United survived game one, winning by three points (70–73). Game two followed a similar story as Chris Goulding (21 points) and Jock Landale (12 points and 17 rebounds) proved too good for the limping Wildcats, falling short in game two also (74-83).

With Norton (8.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 3.6 assists) battling through injury to end the season, the team’s backcourt became even weaker. Despite Kevin White’s best efforts, stepping up to deliver the best three-game performance of his career (10 points in game one, 12 points in game two and 14 points in game three), Perth were never in the series.. With restrictions lifted, game three was held on Melbourne’s home court and in front of a sold-out 5,000-strong crowd at John Cain Arena (the maximum allowed within Covid restrictions). United defeated Perth 81-76 in game three behind a truly dominant performance from Jock Landale (15 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 assists and 2 blocks). Landale would be named Finals MVP award as Melbourne collected their sixth NBL championship, their second under the United branding.

Bairstow would continue to see limited playing opportunities with the Wildcats, appearing in 38 games and averaging 1.9 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 0.8 assists.

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS
2021/22
Bairstow’s contract with the Wildcats finished up in 2021 and he quickly began talking with the league’s newest franchise, the Tasmania Jackjumpers about being a part of the team’s inaugural roster for the 2021/22 season. With Tasmania prepared to offer the young tyro a multi-year deal he made the move to the Apple Isle for his third NBL season.

The JackJumpers debut NBL season began with low expectations, multiple betting agencies gave them 400:1 odds of taking out the championship.

In their NBL debut on 3 December 2021, the JackJumpers defeated the Brisbane Bullets 83–74 in overtime at MyState Bank Arena in Hobart but it was a slow start from them on for the ants. Heading into round 8 the team had won only one more game and sat in ninth spot with a record of 2-6 record.

A season ending injury suffered by marquee signing Will Magnay made things even more difficult and forced the head coach Scott Roth to change their game plan from relying on perimeter shooting to a much more well rounded approach. The move paid off and the team rounded out their season with 10 wins from their last 12 games, finishing with a 17–11 record and fifth spot on the ladder.

Bairstow and the JackJumpers weren’t done however as in true Cinderella fashion, thanks to the South East Melbourne Phoenix beating the Perth Wildcats in the last game of the season, Tasmania overtook Perth to finish in fourth place thanks to points percentage.

Checking in on the @JackJumpers via @MattKenyon9's Instagram story ????#NBL22 pic.twitter.com/awXKw5csLF

— The NBL (@NBL) April 24, 2022

Bairstow finished the season averaging 1.9 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 0.5 assists as the JackJumpers drew the reigning champions and first-placed Melbourne United in the semifinals where again they were not expected to fare well.

Tasmania would lose game one to Melbourne on their home court (74-63), before returning the favour on their home court to even the series (1-1). Heading into the deciding game three a additional stroke of luck befell the team with United Captain Chris Goulding unable to play in game three due to injury. Tasmania would take control in the games final moments, defeating Melbourne in a nail-biter (76-73) to advance to the Grand Final series.

The Sydney Kings defeated the Illawarra Hawks 2-0 on the opposite side of the finals bracket and maintained their strong form, defeating Tasmania in Game one of the Grand Final series 95-78.

Game two saw the first NBL Grand Final game ever played in Hobart, where the JackJumpers threw everything they had at the Kings and on the back of a monster performance from American guard Josh Adams the newcomers almost pulled off a huge upset.

Again, the JackJumpers would benefit from a opposition injury when Kings guard Jaylen Adams, who had been named NBL MVP the previous week, suffered a left hamstring injury which would see him miss the remainder of the Grand Final series.

Game two saw JackJumpers fan favourite Josh Adams erupt for 36 points in front of a sell-out Tasmanian crowd, but thanks to 20 point efforts from both captain Xavier Cooks and Jarell Martin (who shot 80% from the field) as well as Dejan Vasiljevic, who nailed a long range dagger in the closing minutes clinched game two for the Kings, 90-86. The win was Sydney’s 12th straight road game victory – the most away wins ever during a single NBL season.

Dejan Vasiljevic with the ???????????????????????? ????️
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– ???? Watch the #NBLFinals Live on ESPN pic.twitter.com/XDIgoHVKo9

— ESPN Australia & NZ (@ESPNAusNZ) May 8, 2022

The Kings then closed out the series in game three, ending their 17-year championship drought in front of 16,000 fans at Qudos Bank Arena. Xavier Cooks and Jarell Martin would combine for 45 points and 29 rebounds, and the Kings won their 19th win of their final 21 games.

2022/23
The JackJumpers entered their second year with most of their roster locked into multi-year deals, with the only major exits being import duo Josh Adams and MiKyle McIntosh.

While fans lamented the loss of Adams, the team’s leading scorer, coach Scott Roth swiftly replaced him with perhaps an even better talent in Milton Doyle and brought in Rashard Kelly to replace McIntosh.

With Will Magnay (5.9 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks) recovering from a foot injury and captain Clint Stiendl (4.6 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 0.6 assists) sidelined from a knee injury from playing for Australia at the FIBA Asia Cup, Tasmania got off to a shaky start.

Losses to South East Melbourne (79-84), Cairns (84-106) and New Zealand (65-71) saw them sitting equal last with Brisbane three games in. In a battle for the bottom of the ladder, they defeated Brisbane in overtime (90–86) to earn their first win of the season, thanks primarily to Doyle’s 32 points and 4 assists.

Tasmania then rolled off a four-game wining streak which propelled them back into the top six and within playoff contention, where they stayed for the rest of the season.

Milton Doyle (17.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.7 steals) led the team in scoring, while Jack McVeigh (14.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.5 assists) increased his scoring for the fifth consecutive season and was the team’s best local player this season.

Tasmania finished the season in fourth place (16-12), earning a spot in the debut of the NBL’s play-in tournament.

A casualty of the regular season was point guard Josh Magette (10.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 2.0 steals) copping an accidental elbow to the face in Tasmania’s final regular season game against the Hawks. The JackJumpers’ leader and floor general required surgery to fix a broken cheekbone and fractured eye socket and would miss the entire playoffs.

Import Rashard Kelly (12.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 1.5 assists) as well as development player Sean MacDonald (6.3 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.5 assists) and Isaac White (5.3 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 0.6 assists), an injury replacement for Stiendl and Magnay, would fill the void of Magette during the playoffs and after defeating Cairns (79–87) in the play-in qualifier, Tasmania would face second seed New Zealand (18-10) in the semifinals.

In game one, Tasmania would struggle to score, managing only 68 points as a team, their third-lowest score of the season with Kelly (12 points) and Doyle (10 points) the only two players to reach double figures.

Doyle (23 points and 5 assists) would make sure the JackJumpers would even the series with a home win (89-78) in game two., but New Zealand were too strong back on their home floor, closing out the series defeating Tasmania by 15 points (77-92).

Bairstow played in 22 games for the season, averaging 1.7 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 0.6 assists.

2023/24
Was awarded the JackJumpers Coaches Award at the end of the season.

Jarred Bairstow currently plays for the Brisbane Bullets and has played 113 games in his NBL career. He has averaged 1.7 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 0.6 assists since entering the league in 2016.

CURRENT CONTRACT:

Brisbane Bullets – 1 Year Deal (2024-25)

Dan Boyce (811 Posts)

Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.