Antonio firing at both ends ahead of Comm Games

Featured image: Mark Filpo (@codexdesignstudio)

Jonah Antonio helped East Perth Eagles find their best NBL1 West form of the season last week and hopes it continues this Saturday night against the Geraldton Buccaneers before he heads to the Glasgow Commonwealth Games with the Australian Gangurrus.

With Antonio in and out of the Eagles team this NBL1 West through 3x3 commitments including at the World Cup playing for Australia, it's been a side supremely talented but not quite finding their groove.

However, with Antonio, Lat Mayen and David Okwera all having been part of NBL26 and then having veteran bigs Lee Roberts and Ioannis Dimakopoulos, having added two-time All-First Team member De'Sean Parsons, and some emerging talent, and the potential has been there for the Eagles.

Then last week it started to come together with a grind out win on Thursday night at home to the Lakeside Lightning with Antonio leading the charge at the defensive end with his job on the dynamic Isaiah Lewis.

He was tremendous defensively again on Saturday night but also put up 28 points with seven three-point makes in the 108-87 win over the Perth Redbacks where the potential East Perth possess was all on show.

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The last three wins also keep the Eagles in eighth position with two games in the regular season remaining starting this Saturday night on the road to the defending champion Geraldton Buccaneers, and then at home to the Cockburn Cougars next Friday night.

Antonio was glad to see how the Eagles are now starting to find their groove and even with him departing following Saturday night's game in Geraldton for Glasgow, he is confident what the rest of 2026 can hold for them.

"I think as a team we played really well and the guys had a good energy about them, and were happy to see other people score," Antonio said.

"I think we were up and about and it's something we haven’t really had too much this season so it definitely felt like that (best we've played) and it was good to be part of.

"I think on paper we have one of the best teams in NBL1 in terms of talent pound for pound, but it has been a bit of a disrupted season.

"We obviously lost Max (Rice) and brought in De'Sean who has been great but is a totally different player, and then I've been in and out a bit with the 3x3 stuff and even Lat came in a little bit late.

"It's been a bit disrupted but all the talent and pieces are there to be a successful team and I feel confident that if we get a chance, other teams wouldn’t want to face in the playoffs."

Trip back to Geraldton this week

Antonio made his debut with East Perth last season in Geraldton as well and that was quite the whirlwind for him with him arriving back home in Perth that same week before joining his team to take on the Buccaneers.

He then played a key role in what was a tremendous road win against the team that would go on to win the championship. Antonio now hopes the Eagles can do something similar this Saturday night with the Buccs still sitting in top spot as they chase back-to-back titles.

"It will be great if we can lock this one in and be locked into playoffs, and then I leave the next day so it will be another chaotic kind of 24 hours for me," Antonio said.

"I'm excited for the opportunity we have up there and hopefully we can get it done. There's something about road trips with your team where everyone's having a laugh together and enjoying being around each other, but at the same time, they'll be trying to get one or two back on us on their home floor too.

"They're obviously locked into playoffs already too and we're really playing for something here so I'm excited for it."

Finding offence on back of defence

Over the course of his three years in the NBL at the Cairns Taipans, Antonio continued to grow with his defensive capabilities to the point where coach Adam Forde was happy to give him the biggest assignments at that end of the floor.

It's something he continues to take great pride in and as a result has been nominated for this season's Defensive Player of the Year award.

He feels like defence just comes down to wanting to give full effort so that's always within his control and then shots will always be hit and miss, but that's the nature of the sport.

He's just focused on letting the game to come to him continue to try and take the right shots.

"It would be nice if you can control every three that you make and take, but you can't control that and I think what you can control is your energy and effort on defence," Antonio said.

"That's something that as a basketball player you can control how much effort you give so I try to make sure mine is always at the highest level possible.

"I'm still shooting it well from three overall, but when I came back from the World Cup it dipped a bit so it was good to make a few shots again last weekend and I was feeling good out there. I'm getting some good looks as well thanks to my teammates."

Need teammates to do a favour

There is no guarantee that Antonio will pull on an Eagles singlet again this season beyond Saturday night in Geraldton with them still having to confirm a finals position first of all with at least one win in the last two games.

Then they will need to keep winning to start the finals for them to stay alive once he returns whenever the Gangurrus finish up at the Commonwealth Games, but he has full faith in the Eagles being able to make a run still in 2026.

"I feel like they will get it done and we have a really strong squad and even our bench is really deep too, and some of the guys don't always get the opportunity they probably could on other teams," Antonio said.

"We've got great veterans and young guys on the bench but because our five is so star-studded when it comes to NBL1, it's tough to get many opportunity that they could get at other clubs. But hopefully we can turn that into a meaningful post-season."

Preparing for Commonwealth Games

Antonio now can't wait for what could very well end up being one of the best experiences of his life playing with Australia in the 3x3 tournament at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games over the next couple of weeks.

He will be part of the Gangurrus team alongside Perth Wildcats legend Jess Wagstaff, former NBL forward and current Brisbane Capitals NBL1 North star Jarred Bairstow, and Brisbane Bullets two-way gun Sam McDaniel.

They are coached by Adam Forde who coached Antonio in his three seasons at the Snakes so he can't wait for the whole experience.

"I'm very excited and it's an honour to represent Australia in anything but especially at the Commonwealth Games which is an event that's only every four years," Antonio said.

"Getting to experience that and being around the other athletes that will be there and getting to see a lot of those events, I'm very excited and I'm looking forward to the opportunity."

The whole 3x3 journey so far

Antonio had never really thought too much about playing 3x3 basketball until Forde was appointed coach of the men's Gangurrus team and he felt like his game would be perfectly suited to the format given what he'd seen of him in Cairns.

All of a sudden, it's opened up some lifechanging experiences for Antonio including World Cups in both Mongolia and Poland, an Asia Cup in Singapore and a host of other tournaments in parts of the world he'd never otherwise have got to visit.

It's had some mixed results in terms of then coming back to adjusting to playing regular 5x5 basketball, but Antonio feels he's coming to terms with that the more he does it and is thankful for the opportunities he's received.

"It's a very interesting situation that I never thought I'd be doing or being in, but it has taken me around the world in a short span and it's been fun," Antonio said.

"It's a different type of basketball but it's almost pretty free and there's not much coaching and you have to play, there's no hiding out there. It's been a great experience and I'm grateful for it.

"Last year I would say that it affected me a lot coming back to play here, but this year I've become a bit more used to it and the biggest thing is the travel.

"You go to Europe for three weeks and come back and have to acclimatise your time zone and everything again, and get back into a rhythm.

"It is a different game and obviously we do it a bit different in Australia where other countries play it 24/7, but we're a bit behind when it comes to that. It's definitely an adjustment coming back to play here but it's super fun and a great experience."

What's next in career

After three seasons in Cairns with the Taipans after starting his professional career in Czechia following his college career that ended at Wake Forest, the good news for Antonio was that he was still part of NBL26 at the Illawarra Hawks.

The bad news was that it was as an injury replacement player and it didn’t necessarily pan out how he might have hoped. He's now open to any opportunities that might present wherever they may be once he's done with the Commonwealth Games and this NBL1 season.

"I want to play obviously and I still have good years left in my career and I feel like I'm entering my prime especially mentally, but physically I've been healthy for my whole career and I feel really good," Antonio said.

"So I want to be wherever I can be to progress my career so whether that's in a lower level in Europe or an injury replacement in the NBL with an actual opportunity to do something, then that's where I want to be.

"I'm 29 now so I feel like I've got some years left that I want to make the most of and I feel like when you're at this stage you need to play.

"Last season I played four minutes a game in the little amount that I did play so I don’t want to be wasting my prime years rotting on a bench."