Eagles Rd 13 Preview | Home v Flames

Featured image: Mark Filpo, @codexdesignstudio

Both East Perth Eagles teams have a chance to make a statement heading into the back end of the NBL1 West season when hosting the Rockingham Flames on Saturday night at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre.

Round 13 of the NBL1 West season will see the Eagles at home to the Flames with eh women's contest getting underway at 5pm with the men's contest to follow on from that at 7pm.

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WOMEN

The East Perth Eagles will take heart from what they did against the Rockingham Flames two weeks ago as they now play host to them on Saturday night looking to avoid consecutive home defeats.

It shapes as a crucial match up for both teams too when they clash on Saturday at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre with the Flames currently sitting in second position with an 11-3 record while the Eagles are just behind in fourth place at 10-4.

East Perth are fresh off a 53-point road win last Saturday against the South West Slammers with Rockingham attempting to hit back from a loss to the Cockburn Cougars that saw them concede top spot to the defending champions.

The two teams only played one another two weeks ago in Rockingham and while the Flames did win 79-67, the Eagles were on top for two and-a-half quarters while coming off an overtime game the night before and playing without Stacey Barr, Jo Odude, McKenna Dale and Jaymie Symons.

Barr and Odude both returned for last Saturday's win over the Slammers and Symons should be available this Saturday night too while Rockingham will likely welcome back Amy Atwell following being part of the silver medal winning Australian Gangurrus team at the 3x3 World Cup in Poland.

There will be fascinating match ups all over the floor and if Atwell plays, she will go head-to-head with Eagles captain Barr for a lot of the night and then you have gun import pair Sarah Mortensen and Sara Puckett against one another who are both playing well enough to be in MVP contention.

Jade Williams faces a significant test in the five spot against reigning MVP Teige Morrell too and then you have point guards Sydney Wright and Stef Berberabe up against one another.

Not only that, but coaches Jonelle Morley and David Morrell worked together previously at the Joondalup Wolves and now will go head-to-head so everywhere you look and there is plenty to look forward to for the match up.

Zaya Black has settled right in with the Eagles to be playing a key role on the team in 2026 and she's looking forward to the challenge of taking on the Flames.

"I think our first half in that game was super good but we need to learn how to learn the second half just as good when we have some tired bodies," Black said.

"We'll obviously be better with Jo and Stacey being back, and not having a double header that weekend which should definitely help.

"I'm really excited for the rest of the season now and the end game is obviously winning a championship, and we are taking it one game at a time so we're just focused on Rockingham, but it's a really exciting time. Hopefully winning a championship is how it all ends up."

MEN

The East Perth Eagles have history against them but every streak is made to be broken and with Jonah Antonio back in the line-up, Saturday night presents a chance to show what the team is capable of when they take on the league-leading Rockingham Flames.

The Eagles had lost six of their previous seven matches this season prior to bouncing back with an important win last Saturday on the road to the South West Slammers as they return to Morley Sport and Recreation Centre to host the Flames this Saturday night.

East Perth come into the Round 13 match up sitting in eighth position with a 7-8 record while Rockingham remain in top spot at 12-2 and having now won eight straight matches while also having yet to lose on the road in 2026.

The two teams only met two weeks ago in Rockingham with the Flames winning on that occasion by 34 points but the Eagles were coming off playing the night before to the Eastern Suns and couldn’t contain a Rockingham team who racked up 120 points.

That was a 20th straight win for Rockingham against East Perth dating back to 2015 with the Eagles now attempting to avoid losing for the 21st time in-a-row to the Flames this Saturday night.

There will be no shortage of star power out on the floor either with Lat Mayen David Okwera and Jonah Antonio from the Eagles, and Michael Harris, Isaac White and Blake Jones from the Flames all on rosters in NBL26.

Add in the likes of Lee Roberts, De'Sean Parsons and the emerging Nick Filpo, Kai Kabugua and Mitch Benger from East Perth, and Tevin Jackson, Ryan Godfrey, Travis Durnin, Laquinton Ross, Emmett Naar and Mark Burkholder, and there'll be no shortage of star power out there.

It's a significant test for East Perth against a Rockingham team whose lone two losses have come courtesy of buzzer beaters this season while their wins have come with an averaging winning margin of 18.4 points and they are putting up 108.7 points a game while putting up triple figures in all but two of their 14 matches – their two defeats.

But at the same time, it presents a chance for the Eagles to show what they are capable of, to consolidate their playoff position and to set them up a strong run to close out the regular season.

Benger is making the most of his chances with the Eagles the longer this season goes and he'll be looking forward to testing himself against the like of Naar, White, Harris, Godfrey and Jackson on Saturday night as East Perth tried to avoid that 21st straight defeat to Rockingham.

"It's definitely a good opportunity to show everyone what I can do against players like that and it's going to be a good test for us as a team," Benger said.

"Hopefully we can learn from what happened a couple of weeks ago and just hopefully get that win. It would be awesome obviously if we can do that (win) and I think we still can, and everyone still thinks we can."