Eagles Rd 3 Preview | Away v Warwick

The East Perth Eagles will be in action for the first time on a Friday night this NBL1 West and it's two monster clashes for the women and men against the Warwick Senators at Warwick Stadium.

After starting the season playing the past two Saturday nights which saw the Eagles win three of the four matches, they are now back on the road this Friday night for two significant tests against the Warwick Senators.

The women's contest gets underway at Warwick Stadium at 6:30pm with the men's match up to follow at 8:30pm.

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WOMEN

Both the East Perth Eagles and Warwick Senators have made perfect starts to the 2026 NBL1 West season and put those records on the line when they take on one another on Friday night at Warwick Stadium.

It's a significantly new-look East Perth team for 2026 but the Eagles couldn’t have made a better start to life under new coach Jonelle Morley and with Stacey Barr as captain.

Those two enjoyed championship success together with the Senators as well back in 2022 so now on Friday night it presents their first chance to come up against their former team when they head to Warwick Stadium.

East Perth have opened up the new season with a road win against the Willetton Tigers and then last Saturday's home win against the Mandurah Magic by a combined 47 points.

It has been an equally impressive start to the new season for the Senators as well who are coming off playing in last year' grand final with Warwick scoring strong wins against the Perry Lakes Hawks and Kalamunda Eastern Suns by a combined 37 points.

There are exciting match ups all over the floor including the new-look Eagles back court of Sydney Wright and Jasmin Fejo coming up against Chloe Forster, Kyana Weir and Jayda Clark from the Senators.

If former long-time teammates Barr and Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard spend much time matched up, that will be a fascinating contest as well.

Then you have the front courts with Jade Williams, Brooke Malone and Jo Odude from the Eagles up against the likes of Kiara Waite, Nat Burton and Izzy Miotti from the Senators.

Morley always knew that the occasion when she goes back to Warwick Stadium to coach against the Senators for the first time with the Eagles would be a significant occasion, and she's looking forward to it.

"I think it's exciting and I walk into that stadium and still have lots and lots of people that are my friends, and have been my friends for a really long time so it's great to talk back into that community and arena," Morley said.

"I think Stacey and I are pretty excited about the game, but what's more exciting is the group that we've got behind us and the buy in that we're getting with everyone wanting to get out there and play their hardest.

"It will be just another game for us, it's game three, and we want to get another win on the board, but there is probably going to be that little bit in our back pocket pushing us even harder."

While there are some changes to the Warwick team that Morley enjoyed such great success with, there's also that core still there with the likes of Forster, Clinch Hoycard, Burton and Weir so she's looking forward to the challenge up against them.

"There's a huge amount of respect for all of those athletes that I coached there and there's so much respect there that it just gives me great excitement to be able to go in and coach against them," Morley said.

"There's a few players there that I've coached even as juniors coming through but there's some new players there too like Kiara Waite, Izzy Miotti and Jayda Clark who I didn’t coach there but I know well and have coached in different settings.

"The reality of it is that it's the way it is across the league now and almost every team that we come up against have girls that I've either coached with or against so it's juts about playing what's in front of you.

"Brad (Robbins) always throws in different things that I wouldn’t have known or seen so we're looking forward to it."

MEN

The East Perth Eagles offered a glimpse into their potential with last Saturday's home victory and now they take on the grand finalists from last year, the Warwick Senators, at Warwick Stadium this Friday night.

Both teams are coming off strong seasons in 2025 with the Eagles winning a first playoff game since 2014 while the Senators made it all the way to the grand final before losing in heartbreaking fashion at RAC Arena to the Geraldton Buccaneers.

Now both teams are looking to build some early momentum with some new faces in the 2026 season and Friday night's match up at Warwick Stadium is a chance for both to improve on their 1-1 starts to the new campaign.

The Eagles lost first up on the road to the Willetton Tigers but hit back last Saturday with a 42-point third quarter on the way to the eventual 15-point victory against the Mandurah Magic at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre.

That was with Perth Wildcats forward Lat Mayen into the line-up for the first time joining his NBL teammate David Okwera who had a stunning game with 33 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.

The Eagles will also welcome back Jonah Antonio from Australian Gangurrus 3x3 duties this Friday night to be closer to full strength with only the injured Sharif Watson unavailable to take on the Senators.

Warwick are a decidedly new-look team from the one that went so close to a championship last year following the departures of Elijah Pepper, Todd Withers, Cooper Creek and Mitch Clarke.

They are still awaiting the availability of Wildcats guard Ben Henshall while their big man import isn’t expected in time for Friday coming off winning a national championship with Michigan.

But the Senators aren’t lacking in talent still and teenage point guard is fresh off the game of his career with 31 points against the Eastern Suns last week while gun import Marshawn Blackmon had 40 points while playing all 40 minutes last week.

Eagles captain Lee Roberts is fully aware that if they don't take the Senators fully serious and treat them like they are at full strength already come Friday night it will be a long night for them.

"Listen, every single team in this league is talented and it doesn’t matter who's on the roster because most teams still have players coming in, but these young guys out here are hungry," Roberts said.

"You can see when we watch scout and do video, these guys want it and they're not going to come out here and look at our line-up and think they've lost already before the game, they're not going to fold over.

"They're going to want to prove themselves against guys like David Okwera, against Lat, against Jonah, against me and they're all going to want to make a name for themselves so it's dangerous in a way if they're not at full strength yet.

"We look at it in the opposite way and we might say that they're just young kids or this and that and might take them lightly, and that's where you can get in trouble so we have to go into this game thinking they are Rockingham from last year, or Warwick from last year.

"We have to make sure that we are on point and ready from the start or else they're going to jump on top of us and we're going to be fighting to get back in the game."