Eagles fighting spirit on show in Geraldton win

Image credit: Mark Filpo (@codexdesignstudio)

East Perth Eagles coach Carl Filpo was delighted with what NBL guard Jonah Antonio delivered after a whirlwind week to join NBL1 West but he was just as thrilled with the leadership of Lee Roberts in the spirited win in Geraldton.

The Eagles arrived in Geraldton for Saturday night's game with their backs to the wall having won just one of five matches to open the 2025 season and having just lost to the Warwick Senators at home the previous Friday by 36 points.

East Perth did receive a significant boost with the addition of Antonio who just arrived from Cairns during the week, got cleared on Friday and then joined the team for the trip to Geraldton as a replacement for injured captain Taylor Young.

However, Filpo always knew it wasn’t just going to be Antonio's potential brilliance that would lead to a win in Geraldton, it was going to take a four quarter effort full of fighting spirit, and that's what they got.

For the second straight year, the Eagles were able to beat the Buccaneers on their home floor having not done so previously since the championship year all the way back in 2014.

What it did last year was give the Eagles the belief that they could play finals which they ended up doing for the first time in a decade. Filpo loved what he saw from his group to get that win on Saturday night.

"It's always good win and it's always a good feeling, but to do it up there is special I think because of how tough it is," Filpo said.

"Not a lot of teams go up there and win but it is a rare thing and for us, we were coming off a big loss and it was a big game for us given the situation we were in.

"You just go up hoping things go well for you if you do all the right things, and we did that. We just fought hard, that's the thing that stood out.

"We did shoot the ball well, but really we won because of the way we were able to fight and scrap at the defensive end. We wanted to show that fighting spirit as a team and I thought by keeping them to the score we did it gave us a chance to win the game.

"We still did our best to throw it away a little bit at the end with some silly stuff that went on, but they were able to keep their heads for the most part and bring it home."

There's no hiding from what an important game it was for the Eagles too. Should have they slipped to a 1-5 start to the season it would have been a long road back, but Filpo just saw a belief from the playing group all week that they were on a mission in Geraldton.

A lot of that credit he gives to 151-game veteran big man Roberts who has stepped up as captain since Young's hamstring injury.

He did deliver 16 points, nine rebounds and five assists himself, but it was the leadership he showed that Filpo felt was key.

"When the pressure's on sometimes you can either crack or it can focus you. I felt like the boys were locked in and focused once we got there, and Lee was the one who made sure of that having stepped into the captaincy role," Filpo added.

"He does a great job of keeping them with the right mindset and he has been great as far as carrying the coaching message back to the playing group.

"Even when we got down by nine in the fourth quarter, I still felt good about our team and that we could get the win. I think Lee was instrumental in that and the vibe remained positive even when it would have been easy for everybody to drop their head.

"We just felt good the whole night and they were focused, locked in and working hard. We kept them to two offensive rebounds in the first half which was key so I was really happy with the overall performance."

While Antonio's numbers might not have jumped off the page with seven points, five assists and two rebounds in his first game for the Eagles only a couple of days after arriving back in Perth from Cairns, anyone who watched the game would know his impact was significant.

While when he first started in the NBL at the Taipans it was as a renowned three-point shooter and he's shown he can put points on the board quickly, he has also developed his all-round game.

There were times this past NBL season with the Snakes that he was effectively used as a defensive stopper, he is more than proficient with the ball in hands as a playmaker, and Filpo was delighted with what he provided first up.

"Obviously to have a professional like Jonah join the team was a big boost and people might think he didn’t have a big impact based on his numbers, but he did so many things for us out there and he was a big reason why we won the game," Filpo said.

"He did say from the start he was more worried about helping us win games and not just putting up big numbers which we know he's capable of, and he showed that. He just wanted to be part of a winning team by joining us.

"He's such a professional and picked up everything quickly, and I was happy with his game. He had the task on Johny Narkle and did a great job so we are really glad we've got him on our team."

While Antonio was a Warwick Senators junior, there was a natural connection for him to East Perth given he played in Cairns under the Eagles 2014 championship winning coach Adam Forde.

That was how Filpo first came into contact with Antonio too and it was quite the rapid process last week to get him from Cairns to Perth, to have one training session on the Thursday night and then join his new Eagles teammates on the trip to Geraldton.

"It did come about through the connection with Adam Forde. I speak with him from time to time so that's how it came about and he speaks very highly of Jonah," Filpo said.

"And now in the week that I've known him, my first impressions are certainly positive and I can see why Adam does like him. He's all about business and getting the win.

"I first spoke with him only on Sunday, then we had a really good chat on the Tuesday and that's when we made the decision to make it happen.

"After that we booked the flights and it was a big rush to get the contracts and clearances all sorted, which only ended up coming through late on the Friday. Then we went off to Geraldton so it was a big week for him, but we couldn’t be happier to have him with us and especially for that first game."