Eagles focus forward after mixed weekend

Featured image: Mark Filpo (@codexdesignstudio)

There's always lessons to take out of any game in particular a loss like the East Perth Eagles had on Sunday but there was a positive win the night before and coach Carl Filpo will just focus ahead and learn from those two games what he can.

It was about as contrasting as you can get in one weekend back in Round 7 of the NBL1 West season for the Eagles starting with the supremely impressive 25-point road win on Saturday night against an Eastern Suns team that had only lost once in 2026 prior to that.

But then on Sunday afternoon at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre, it was tough going for the Eagles after a 16-9 start with the Geraldton Buccaneers going on to score the 28-point victory.

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That leaves East Perth sitting on a 5-3 record this season ahead of a road clash with the Cockburn Cougars this Friday night with coach Filpo taking what he can for his team out of those games last weekend, but quickly focusing ahead.

"We'll learn from it and you write them off once you've gone over it. If you lose, you move on and get onto the next game, and the same if you won," Filpo said.

"So in a way, yes we can write it off, and from every game win or loss you still do want to learn from it.

"Usually you learn more from a loss but I thought that there were definitely some takeaways for it and hopefully the guys are driven to get the win back against them when we go up there later in the year."

Loss to the Buccs

Recent history had told Filpo that he had reason to be nervous for the Sunday game given the recent history of such encounters.

With both teams coming off Saturday night wins against the Suns and Willetton Tigers, it was East Perth who started the better to lead 16-9, but after a Dayle Joseph timeout for Geraldton, the visitors took control from there and all Filpo's fears were realised.

"It's just historically that whatever it is and for whatever reason our guys just don't handle that double header very well," Filpo said.

"We've done it for six of the last seven years now on the Sunday and this time the extra late game on Saturday I don't think helped our cause.

"But at the end of the day, the Buccs do the double header too and they're probably conditioned for it a bit more I suppose, but maybe our guys had a little bit of a hangover from the night before.

"That was a nice win, but also the tired bodies rolling in in the morning meant I didn’t get strong vibes coming into it.

"However, at the start we got off to a flyer and I changed my mind and thought we were actually good. But the Buccs doing what they do, the grinded it out and got us."

Worries to come out of the game

What bothered Filpo the most with that Sunday game against the Buccaneers unfolded was the way the Eagles were outhustled and outworked on their home floor.

"It was probably just our lack of rebounding and they were chasing and hunting every single rebound on the offensive glass," Filpo said.

"And they were getting little tips, tip ins and tip outs, and all those sorts of things which was disappointing.

"They did come out of that early timeout and hit three threes to our zero and had a run there, and then they hit another one not long after that. A couple were tough, I'll give them that, but we also needed to guard it better."

Win over the Suns

As disappointing as Sunday's game turned out to be, Saturday night's win over the Eastern Suns was equally as impressive especially with the Eagles winning the first and fourth quarters 61 points to 35.

The end result was the 25-point victory against a team that had been 6-1 on the season up to that point. While David Okwera starred with 28 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four blocks on 11/15 shooting, Filpo liked most what a team effort it was.

"It was a real team effort and we created, we hustled and we finished strong as well. We started strong and finished strong, and might have lost our way a little bit in the middle of the game," Filpo said.

"I wasn’t happy with the turnovers and I think if we looked after the ball I think we would have won by more to be honest.

"We shot the ball really well and that didn’t just happen, that's coming from guys creating, getting to spots and making the extra pass to create the great shot for our teammates. It certainly helped that we were making a lot so I had to be happy."

Biggest concern moving forward

Even with the win on Saturday night for the Eagles over the Suns, there were several areas of concerns across the two games last weekend that will need tidying up moving forward.

East Perth did have 38 turnovers across the two games and sent both Kalamunda and Geraldton to the foul line 45 times, but it was the 25 offensive rebounds they conceded that is what stood out to Filpo beyond everything else.

"It's probably the rebounding and depending on the day and the match ups and who we're playing, and the mindsets, fouls can happen," Filpo said.

"Hopefully we're not committing undisciplined which is the main thing and sometimes it's a hustle thing and you foul, and that's just part of the game. But if it's discipline and effort, then you don’t mind it so much."