Eagles Week 1 Finals Preview

Featured image: Mark Filpo, @codexdesignstudio

The East Perth Eagles have both teams in the NBL1 West finals for a second straight season with the women playing for a home preliminary final against the Rockingham Flames and the men trying to stay alive against the Willetton Tigers.

It's the second straight season for East Perth to have both teams qualifying for the finals and both will open those playoffs campaign on Saturday night on the road.

The women will take on the Rockingham Flames at 6:30pm at Mike Barnett Sports Complex in a qualifying final while it's an elimination final match up for the men against the Willetton Tigers at Willetton Basketball Stadium at 6pm.

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WOMEN

The Eagles women are a new largely new group in 2026 and that has clicked with a third place finish by the end of the regular season and now they play off for the chance to host a preliminary final on Saturday night.

East Perth will take on the Rockingham Flames at Mike Barnett Sports Complex on Saturday night beginning at 6:30pm with the winner to host a preliminary final next Saturday night while the loser will host a semi-final instead on Thursday.

Not much separated the two teams by the end of the regular season with the Flames finishing in second position with a 16-4 record while the Eagles end up third at 15-5.

That means that both teams have earned at least one home final and then a double chance should they need it going into Saturday night's qualifying final in Rockingham.

The two teams met twice during the regular season and it was a win at home each with Rockingham winning the first battle 79-67 before East Perth got them back at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre with the 89-80 victory.

In that first game in Rockingham, the Eagles didn’t have Stacey Barr or Jo Odude, but they were still right in the contest with 21 points, 12 rebounds and three assists for the Eagles, Jade Williams 21 points and four rebounds, and Brooke Malone eight points, 10 boards and six assists.

Then in the return encounter that East Perth won, Barr was back for the Eagles and delivered 24 points, nine rebounds and four assists with Malone adding 24 points and five assists, and Mortensen having a triple double consisting of 11 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists.

Eagles coach Jonelle Morley is looking forward to her team taking on the Flames with a home preliminary final at stake and to lock minds with David Morrell after the pair worked together with the Joondalup Wolves.

"We're excited and last time we went out to Rocko we played really well for the majority of the game and let ourselves down in the fourth quarter," Morley said.

"We're expecting them to have a full strength team and we're going in hopefully with the same. I love coaching against David, we have a huge amount of respect for each other and we coached together for a couple of seasons.

"I'm really excited and the guys are really pumped too to get down there on Saturday night."

MEN

The Eagles men have now qualified for the finals for a third straight season and will be looking to replicate what they did with a big road win to open the playoffs when they take on the Willetton Tigers on Saturday night.

The Eagles men hadn’t made finals since the 2014 championship triumph before breaking through in 2024 and then the upward trajectory continued by making the finals again in 2025, and then winning a first playoff game since the 2014 Grand Final by beating the Joondalup Wolves at Arena Joondalup.

East Perth have now made the finals again in 2026 finishing the regular season with a 10-12 record and now they find themselves in the same situation with an elimination final the challenge on the road this Saturday night.

This time the hosts are the Willetton Tigers at Willetton Basketball Stadium with the game getting underway at 6pm.

Since missing the finals in 2022, the Tigers have been banging on the door for the ultimate success in the NBL1 West as well starting with a semi-final appearance in 2023 before losing the Grand Final to the Mandurah Magic in heartbreaking fashion in 2024, and losing a home preliminary final after being in a dominant position to the Geraldton Buccaneers last year at half-time.

That leaves both teams now used to being part of finals appearances and with their seasons on the line on Saturday night, it's going to be a fierce contest.

It's an Eagles team with plenty of experienced players and those used to playing on a big stage with Jonah Antonio likely back from winning a silver medal with the Australian Gangurrus at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Then there's Lat Mayen and David Okwera who both played in NBL26 while De'Sean Parsons, Lee Roberts, Ioannis Dimakopoulos and Jermaine Malie provide plenty of experience, and Nick Filpo, Kai Kabugua and Bing Huang are important in the back court.

Then they face a Willetton team with no shortage of experience with Damien Scott playing his 398th game in the league, Michael Vigor his 346th and then they have other weapons including Taeshon Cherry, Zac Gattorna, Tom Gerovich, Lachlan Burnett and Tom Musumeci.

The only time the two teams met during the regular season was all the way back in the opening round where Willetton did beat East Perth 96-82 despite 25 points, 11 rebounds and six assists for the Eagles from Okwera.

Eagles coach Carl Filpo knows that Willetton are going to be tough to overcome especially on their home floor, but he does like his team's chances.

"They're good, right, and they've got guys that play for their jersey, guys with a high work rate and who were hugely successful in that first half of the season," Filpo said.

"It's been a bit up and down for them since then, but we know that they are going to come to play and it's at their place and they'll want to protect home court. There's all these things that work in their favour, but our guys will be ready."