Eagles Rd 1 Preview | Away v Willetton

Both East Perth Eagles teams made NBL1 West finals in 2025 and now will be looking to make a winning start on the road to 2026 on Saturday evening against the Willetton Tigers.

The Eagles women and men both reached the finals in the NBL1 West in 2025 and will be looking to at least repeat that dose in 2026 with things getting underway against the Tigers at Willetton Basketball Stadium on Saturday.

The women's match up will tip-of at 5pm with the men's game to follow at 7pm.

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WOMEN

The East Perth Eagles women might have made finals again in 2025, but it's been a big summer of change with the arrival of championship winning coach Jonelle Morley and a whole new group of players that look capable of bringing great excitement.

The Eagles started the 2025 season on fire winning seven of the opening nine matches but they only managed to go 3-8 the rest of the way before still finishing in eighth position.

The season then finished with a finals loss on the road to the Mandurah Magic and now there have been plenty of changes ahead of the 2026 season as they look to build, and grow, on what they did in 2025.

The first piece to fall was the arrival of Morley as the new coach and she brings with her a wealth of experience including taking the Warwick Senators to both the NBL1 West and NBL1 National championships back in 2022.

She now returns to a head coaching role in the NBL1 West with the Eagles and she has a clear vision and style that she wants her team to play, and has recruited accordingly.

The recruiting she has been able to do has been mighty impressive led by MVP level pair Stacey Barr and Sarah Mortensen.

Sydney Wright and Jasmin Fejo then come across having played in the NBL1 Central last season and will provide plenty in the back court while Brooke Malone returns home to WA and brings her strong scoring and rebounding punch to the Eagles.

Jade Williams is also on deck as a lethal import with Tahlia Kelly, Zaya Black and Jo Odude adding to the new faces with Ari Van Vliet, Aleka Kabugua and Jaymie Symons among those important pieces remaining on deck.

The recruitment phase and preparation for the season could hardly have been more seamless for Morley, but she knows how things actually come together on court in season is what matters now.

And they will face a significant test first up against the Tigers at Willetton Basketball Stadium on Saturday evening.

For the first time since 2013, Willetton also have a new coach with 512-game playing veteran Sue Williams taking over from two-time championship winner Simon Parker in 2026.

It's also a decidedly new-look Willetton team as well after their first round finals exit last year with the return of defensive gun Emma Gandini along with the signing of WNBL championship winner Alex Fowler and reigning Grand Final MVP Ruby Porter.

Morley isn’t quite sure exactly what to expect from Willetton first up, but she is looking forward to locking horns with Williams and can't wait to see the Eagles in action to start the real stuff.

"Sue and I recently coached together with the State U20s team and we had a lot of banter, and some laughs, and talked a lot about this season was looking for both of us," Morley said.

"Separate to that, though, I'm not fully aware of what we're going to hit on the court come this weekend and obviously there's a few unknowns around players and whether they will or won't be available, and what they're going to bring and what their style of game is going to be.

"I haven’t seen Sue in that head coaching role and what that style's going to bring although I have a bit of an idea but really, the focus is just going to be on us as a team ensuring that we maintain our focus on playing with pace, having fun out there and really being relentless on rebounds, defensively and offensively.

"If we can bring that side of the game for ourselves then I think it will put us in pretty good stead for Game 1 and that's what we've been working all pre-season is playing with pace and playing with fun and a bit of style out there on the court, and being really, really relentless.

"I think if we can bring that it will set us up well for the season."

MEN

After a decade in the wilderness in the NBL1 West men's competition, the East Perth Eagles have now made finals the past two seasons and continuity is the key coming into 2026 as they look to make a winning start on Saturday against perennial powerhouses the Willetton Tigers.

After winning a championship back in 2014, the Eagles didn’t make the finals for the next 10 years before getting back there with a sixth place finish in 2024 and then ending up eighth again in 2025.

They broke through for a first finals win since the championship eliminating the Joondalup Wolves last year before a second straight loss to end their season in the finals to the Rockingham Flames.

There has been clear growth in what has been building and as a result keeping the core group was the focus coming into 2026.

That has been a success as well with Lee Roberts, Ioannis Dimakopoulos, Luke Hampson, Max Rice, Kai Kabugua, Sharif Watson, Jonah Antonio and Nick Filpo all among the players back again with the Eagles in 2026.

With little need for change, the focus was on topping up with quality and the return of David Okwera fresh off his best NBL season at the Perth Wildcats is significant after the impact he was able to have at East Perth in 2024.

Jermaine Malie is another former Eagles player returning in 2026 now as a 147-game league veteran and having been a key part of the Mandurah Magic's championship triumph back in 2024.

Bing Huang is one new arrival too and he will provide further depth to the back court and there's still an extra import spot to be filled potentially at some stage too.

So there's every reason to expect the East Perth team of 2026 to continue building on the last two seasons of finals but it's a significant challenge first up on the road to Willetton on Saturday night.

The Tigers are regularly championship contenders and went ever so close to winning a title back in 2024 and had another top four finish in 2025 before losing a home preliminary final to the eventual champion Geraldton Buccaneers.

The Tigers have retained a lot of their core group as well under coach Adam Nener including Michael Vigor, Damien Scott, Tom Gerovich and Andrew Black, and last year's ultra impressive import Taeshon Cherry.

New import Bryce Johnson is someone that's already caught the eye of Eagles coach Carl Filpo who is looking forward to challenging his team up against the Tigers first up to open the new season.

"I don’t have a huge insight into them and obviously I know who they've announced and what their list looks like, and their new import Bryce Johnson looks really good," Filpo said.

"So we're going to have to be ready for him and obviously you never know how guys will adjust to a new league, but we fully expect him to be a handful.

"They've got a good core as well and have a lot of their Willetton guys back like Damien Scott, Gerovich, Vigor and those guys who all work well together, and you always know they're well coached and very organised.

"Their defensive structures are really solid and when we study what they do defensively, we're always really impressed with how they play and it's that whole team of champions or a champion team.

"Well they've got a bit of both really and then you throw Cherry in there and he's really good, and could be even better in his second season now that he knows the league.

"We're going to have to be at our best to beat them in Round 1 that's for sure."