OPINION: Jack Jumpers is a good name, though an annoying insect

There are few things that gets this Tasmanian expat quite as excited as seeing my home state finally get some respect on the national stage.

Or so I thought.

Because after we announced our name - the JackJumpers - people started mocking us.

I did too, I must admit, until I discovered jack jumpers (the ant, not the team) are really only a thing in my home state.

Now, I really like the names, but I will tell you, jack jumpers are wretched little s**ts.

I've been bitten by two in my life - first when I was about three and was camping with my parents at Bridport on the state's north-east coast.

The second time was when I was at Stoney Head, just outside of George Town in the state's north.

A jack jumper is a venomous ant, so when they bite you, it hurts like hell for a few seconds, but then goes away.

Then the dull numbing throb sets in.

Horrible, horrible experience, though of all the things that can bite you, it's not the worst I guess.

So, like many, I hated it when the name was first suggested, and was mortified when it was announced as our new name.

The response on social media was similar - what a dumb name.

Then I mentioned it in our newsroom and was met with a reaction I wasn't expecting from most of my co-workers - what's a jackjumper?

This is where my attitude towards the name changed.

For starters, names like the Tasmanian Devils or Tigers have been done to death, and are frankly a bit dull and overdone at this point.

They're synonymous with the state, but that's because they've been overdone.

Jack Jumpers is completely different.

This is something no one on the mainland has seen or really knows about, but in Tassie we do.

It's this special thing we can have that people don't understand.

It's something we can have on the national stage that's truly Tasmanian.

It's also different to the typical boring sporting names.

In the time that Tasmania didn't have a team, I supported the Melbourne Tigers in the NBL (if Tassie doesn't have a team in a national comp, I typically back a Melbourne team.)

I don't like the idea of changing teams, but like a lot of people, my team no longer exists.

It disappeared, becoming a boring team with no real identity when they sold out and became "Melbourne United.�

It's a boring name. What it was meant to mean (unifying all of Melbourne basketball) was a fake message, and like many I was disenchanted by the change and stopped supporting.

When United won a title, I felt nothing, because they weren't my team.

And United is such a boring name.

It's like it came off a generated computer program trying to find something soft and easy to sell, that had no real identity.

Other names considered for Tassie - the Tasmanian Pride and the Tasmanian Tridents.

Doesn't that just inspire you so much.

It's the same issue - it's safe, it's easy.

It's boring.

I don't like names like that in any sport.

The Spirit, the Wild, the Magic - they're just so dull.

I know what a Jack Jumper does - it attacks its prey and poisons it.

It works in a colony to achieve something bigger than itself.

What the hell does the Pride even mean?

What does a Trident have to do with Tasmania?

Jack Jumpers is different, but it's a good different.

It makes you think about what it stands for.

And it's not some dull corporate identity.

So, while you mainlanders may have no clue what it even is, we have something special in Tassie that belongs to us.

And now we get to bring it to the national stage.

And we get to name our stadium "the Nest", and that's awesome.