Harrower,Jenny Whittle,Rachel Sporn and Kristin Veal were among those former Opals who gathered to bid Jackson farewell on Thursday.
"You can't replace a player like Lauren Jackson,it's impossible,"Joyce said.
"It's more about the mentality,there's something special about the great ones with the competitiveness and the look in their eye.
"There's only going to be one Lauren Jackson but as a team it's going to be a shared responsibility to deal with it.
"We lost Lizzie[Cambage] before the worlds and everyone was saying you're not even going to medal.
"You've just got to deal with it and not make excuses. We didn't make excuses,and that's why we came away with a fantastic bronze medal win.
"I pulled them together,and I said'none of you are Lizzie Cambage but you need to rebound more,you need to defend better,it's a shared responsibility across the board'.
"We're not going to make excuses here. When they[Opals] won the 2006[world championships] gold you could probably say both were in the top four in the world.
"I don't think we've got anybody in the top 10 but that doesn't mean we're not going to win a gold medal because we have an incredible team spirit.
"It's important we acknowledge great players and their contributions,the AFL does it very well and it helps with closure."
If anyone can relate to the emptiness Jackson spoke of on Thursday,it's Taylor.
The 34-year-old also had setbacks with her knee and once feared it would cripple her chances of playing at Rio this year.
It will be her Olympic swansong and she believes once the disappointment of her career being cut short has subsided,Jackson will look back on her career with perspective.
"I faced it about two years ago when I had a pretty devastating injury and it wasn't looking good,but I was able to return to a level I'm happy with,"Taylor said.
"As an athlete you know this day will come and you want it to be on your terms. I'm pretty devastated for Lauren it's through injury but now we can look back on everything she's achieved instead of the struggle to get back on court.
"Playing on the same team when you know she has that natural instinct for the game and we'd always know she'd be in the right position. I'll miss that side of that,the athleticism and skill.
"We don't replace Lauren with one player,it'll be multiple players.
"Our culture doesn't stop when I retire or Lauren retires,I think that's why we've had success over such a period of time.
Taylor said she is unsure when she will contemplate retirement but guaranteed Rio will be her last Olympics.
"We'll worry about that when it comes,I'll just see how I feel and I feel great right now,"Taylor said.
LAUREN JACKSON'S STELLAR CAREER
INTERNATIONAL
3 Olympic silver medals (2000,2004,2008);1 Olympic bronze medal (2012);1 Commonwealth Games gold (2006);1 world championship gold (2006);2 world championship bronze (1998,2002)
WNBA
Team:Seattle Storm (2001-2012),2 WNBA championships,3-time MVP,8-time All Star
WNBL
Teams:AIS (1997-99),Canberra Capitals (1999-2004,2005-06,2009-10,2014-15),6 WNBL championships,4-time MVP,6-time All Star,4-time grand final MVP
EUROPE
Teams:Spartak Moscow Region (2007-10),Ros Casares Valencia (2011-12),3 EuroLeague championships,2-time EuroLeague All Star,2 Russian championships,1 Spanish championship,1 EuroLeague final four MVP
Other teams:Albury Wodonga Lady Bandits (SEABL;2006),Samsung Bichumi (WKBL,Korea;2007),Ekaterinburg (Russia;2004),Heilongjiang Shenda (WCBA,China;2013-14)