Eagles Rd 4 Preview | Away v Joondalup

Featured image: @aussiesinaction / Madeleine Clark @madeleineclarkmedia

The East Perth Eagles women welcome Sarah Mortensen as they look to stay unbeaten in 2026 and the men are looking for a third straight victory at Arena Joondalup on Friday night against the Joondalup Wolves in NBL1 West Round 4.

It's a big Friday night at Arena Joondalup with the Eagles travelling north to take on the Wolfpack with the women's match up beginning at 6:30pm with the men's game to follow at 8:30pm.

The East Perth women put their perfect record on the line against the winless Wolves while the Wolfpack men are undefeated so far in 2026 with the Eagles attempting to win a third straight match.

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WOMEN

The East Perth Eagles have made a tremendous start to the season under new coach Jonelle Morley with a host of new faces and now will be attempting to stay unbeaten against the winless Joondalup Wolves on Friday night.

The Eagles made it three wins from three games to start the new season with the five-point win against the also previously undefeated Warwick Senators at Warwick Stadium last Friday night.

They now come up against a Wolves team on Friday night at Arena Joondalup who might be winless so far after their opening three matches of the season, but they are a decidedly better and more dangerous team than that suggests.

Not much separated the two teams back in 2025 with the Eagles finishing eighth at 10-10 while the Wolfpack just missed out in ninth place at 8-12, but it's been a different start for both so far in 2026.

East Perth have a new-look coming into this season and what new coach Morley has built both in terms of how the team is playing and with the recruiting has instantly clicked with the three first up wins against the Willetton Tigers, Mandurah Magic and Warwick Senators.

That is wins all over teams that played finals last year and now the Eagles will look to keep the momentum going and will receive a significant boost with the first appearance of Sarah Mortensen in East Perth colours.

Having spent two of the past three NBL1 West seasons with the Cockburn Cougars and being instrumental in their 2023 and 2025 championships, Mortensen is back into the league for a third season and will look to make an immediate impact.

Mortensen has just finished her season in Greece with AO Amyntas and also just last month she played with Denmark in the European Championships so she arrives at the Eagles with some high-level basketball under her belt.

Combine that with what she's done previously in the NBL1 West and while she did make the All-First Team last season, she can consider herself decidedly unlucky to not have been the MVP.

She averaged 21.7 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.4 steals on shooting 48 per cent from the field, 42 per cent from deep and a remarkable 97 per cent at the free-throw line before helping Cockburn to the second championship in three years.

Mortensen now comes into an East Perth team with three impressive wins under their belt and will partner up to form a tough front court alongside Jade Williams, Brooke Malone and Jo Odude.

The Wolves might have lost their opening three matches of the season to the Lakeside Lightning, Perry Lakes Hawks and Cougars, but they aren’t shy on talent or experience.

That's especially prevalent in that front court with their team featuring Perth Lynx WNBL import Yemiyah Morris who had 10 points and seven rebounds just in the second half last week against the Cockburn with the Wolfpack giving the reigning champs a real scare in the third quarter.

The Wolves also welcomed in Asianae Johnson for her first game of the season last week against Cockburn with Ella Thornton-Elliott putting up 17 points and Kim Pierre-Louis 16 points with six rebounds and three assists.

That means that it's going to be a decidedly tougher battle for the Eagles against the Wolves than the 3-0 against 0-3 record suggests coming into the Round 4 match at Arena Joondalup.

MEN

The East Perth Eagles and Joondalup Wolves have combined to win five of six games so far this season, it's a rematch from last year's finals and a former captain is up against his old team for the first time.

That all means that when the Eagles take on the Wolfpack at Arena Joondalup this Friday night that there's plenty to look out for in the men's match up.

The Eagles head into the match up having won their past two matches against the Mandurah Magic and Warwick Senators after a first up loss to the Willetton Tigers.

The Wolves, meanwhile, have made a strong start to the season too with wins against the Lakeside Lightning, Perry Lakes Hawks and Cockburn Cougars.

East Perth looking for a third successive victory and Joondalup trying to make it four straight is only the start of what makes it a fascinating Round 4 match up.

The last time the teams played was in the first round of the finals last year when the Eagles ended the season of the Wolves in the process while winning a first playoff game since the 2014 Grand Final.

Now just adding to the occasion and Friday night will mark the first occasion that former Eagles captain Taylor Young will play against his former team since joining the Wolves for 2026.

Eagles coach Carl Filpo is looking forward to the test against an undefeated Wolfpack team on their home floor and going in with fond memories of the last visit to Arena Joondalup in last year's playoffs.

"We haven't forgotten that last game and I'm sure they haven't either, and we like going there and it's a nice setup with a great game night experience for everybody," Filpo said.

"There's always a big crowd with a great atmosphere so that gets people going, but for us we're looking forward to it definitely and it's going to be a big test for both teams I think, and we're pumped."

Filpo doesn't want to put himself in former Eagles captain Young's shoes about how he will be feeling about the match up, but does know that the back court he's part of alongside Sharif Black will be tough for East Perth to keep under control.

"I don't know how he (Young) is feeling, I haven’t spoke to him and maybe he will, you might think so, but we're focused on the job as I'm sure they are and they'll be hunting the win just like we will be," Filpo said.

"So that will be the biggest driver for everybody but as for what's going through his head, I'm not sure.

"Then there's Sharif who is super talented and we're definitely going to have to look after him, and we're working on the scout this week to see how we're going to guard him and how we can take some of his strengths away.

"That's going to be tough because he's definitely one of the better players going around with how quick and explosive he is, and he shoots it and gets to the rim. I haven’t seen a lot of weaknesses from what I've seen of him so far."