Eagles Heritage Round Preview | Home v Redbacks

Featured image: Mark Filpo (@codexdesignstudio)

The East Perth Eagles women will try to remain undefeated at home this NBL1 West season while the men need to get back winning when they host the Perth Redbacks on Saturday in Heritage Round.

The Eagles are back home on Saturday evening to take on the Redbacks at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre with the women's contest getting underway at 5pm following by the men's match at 7pm.

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WOMEN

The East Perth Eagles are yet to lose at home so far this season and will look to keep that going on Saturday against the Perth Redbacks at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre.

The Eagles are back on Peter Campbell Basketball Arena to celebrate Heritage Round on Saturday on the back of a pair of wins in their first double header of the season last weekend.

Those victories against the Perry Lakes Hawks and Joondalup Wolves improved East Perth to an 8-2 record to open the season to sit in third position and having won all four matches on their home floor to date.

They now play host to a Redbacks team on Saturday who hold a 2-7 record and have lost their past four matches, but can never be underestimated.

The game will also be the first time that Brooke Malone has come up against her former Redbacks team in the NBL1 West since joining East Perth in 2026 on her return to the league.

Having split her 2025 firstly in the NBL1 North at the South West Metro Pirates and then finishing in the South at the Casey Cavaliers, Malone has come back to Western Australia in 2026 and joined the Eagles.

She's having a significant impact too with 15.6 points and 6.7 rebounds a game as she now faces the Redbacks for the first time since being a key player there back in the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

And while the Redbacks have just two wins on the board so far this season and have lost their past four, they do arrive at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre a dangerous opponent for the Eagles.

Sam Ashby continued to prove that she's turned into a star of the league averaging 23.0 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists including have three games of scoring 30 or more points already.

Patty Brossmann also returned last weekend on the back of winning a championship in Italy and she's a former champion in the NBL1 West too at the Cockburn Cougars so she's someone that East Perth will need to be mindful of.

Aimee Borchet, Sophie Doran, Olivia Berry, Shenae Hartree, Laniesha Paddon, Ella Barmentloo and Ashlyn Lee are all handy contributors on that Redbacks team too.

The Eagles will still need to be right on their game if they want to remain undefeated at home this season and there could very well be a new addition to the team to replace Jasmin Fejo and also a new starter just to add to the intrigue for the evening.

MEN

The East Perth Eagles have had a rough couple of weeks but with the talent on the team, they will be looking to hit back and consolidate a top eight spot when they host the Perth Redbacks on Saturday night.

The Eagles have now lost their past four matches in the NBL1 West as they look to stop that slide when they host the Redbacks on Saturday night at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre as part of NBL1 West Heritage Round.

East Perth lost both games of their double header last weekend firstly on the road to the Perry Lakes Hawks and at home to the Joondalup Wolves on the back of a loss two Sundays ago against the Geraldton Buccaneers, and then also falling to the Cockburn Cougars in between.

The Eagles, though, still sit inside the top eight with a 5-6 record ahead of hosting the Redbacks on Saturday night who are just outside a playoff position at 4-6.

The Redbacks also come into the clash having lost their past three matches to the Lakeside Lightning, Mandurah Magic and Geraldton, but they had two impressive wins prior to that over Perry Lakes and the Goldfields Giants.

That only heightens the stakes for the match up with East Perth trying to avoid a fifth straight loss to stay solid in the top eight with Perth also not wanting a fourth loss in-a-row and trying to break into a finals place.

It will be the second weekend with two-time All-First Team member De'Sean Parsons in the East Perth line-up having started this season in the NBL1 Central with the West Adelaide Bearcats.

He has joined as the replacement for the now departed Max Rice who has taken on an assistant coaching role where he played his college basketball, Boise State University.

Jonah Antonio also won't be available this week while he's playing with the Australian Gangurrus at the 3x3 World Cup but Emmanuel Dech, the younger brother of championship winner Sunday, is now available and will make his East Perth debut ahead of heading to college himself.

The Eagles will be hosting a Redbacks team with plenty of firepower led by Marshall Nelson and Sean Conway who are combining to average 41.5 points, 11.2 rebounds and 7.5 assists a game so far in 2026.

Eagles coach Carl Filpo knows that the Redbacks won't be an easy opponent for his team and only sit one win behind on the table, but he's just focused on getting his outfit to play East Perth basketball and the rest should take care of itself.

"They're a good team and they can shoot it absolutely. Marshall's always a worry, Conway's doing really well and there's a bunch of guys there who can all shoot it," Filpo said.

"We're going to have to be on our game to get the stops and if we play our game, then we'll get them but we're going to have to play well to do that."