Filpo proud culture starting to come together with Eagles

East Perth Eagles head coach Carl Filpo is proud that the NBL1 West playoffs drought is over for his men's team, but it's just the start of a culture he is looking to build that's all about sustained success.

When Filpo was appointed head coach following the 2022 season, he knew that things had to change at the Eagles and that the men's program could no longer keep just accepting the normal which had been mass turnover of players season on season, and missing the playoffs.

It's remarkable to think but since winning the 2014 championship, the Eagles men have not made the playoffs once so it's easy to see why Filpo knew that the answer was to start building a culture around setting things up for sustained success, and not quick fixes.

After a slow start in 2023, the signs were then encouraging with the way the Eagles finished that season and then for Filpo, the best thing was that every player he wanted to bring back, also wanted to return.

That included Lee Roberts and Lukas Milner once their overseas commitments finished while NBL talent Sunday Dech and David Okwera, both who grew up nearby Morley, wanted to be part of what the Eagles were trying to build as well.

The result now is that East Perth is guaranteed a return to the playoffs in 2024 but for Filpo he wants to focus on a top four spot over the last three weeks, and in the bigger picture creating something that can be successful in the long-term.

Building for sustained success

After the Eagles finished off the 2023 season winning five of the last seven games and those two losses were only at the expense of eventual champions Geraldton, Filpo knew they had to keep as much of that squad together as possible.

With Lee Roberts and Lukas Milner committing to coming back along with Taylor Young, that gave Filpo heart that he was on the right path before then also being able to welcome back 2014 championship winner Sunday Dech.

Perth Wildcats young gun David Okwera then also came on board along with the versatile and experienced Sharif Watson along with the local returnees including his sons Nick and Anthony along with Noah Straatsma, Elijah Pawson, Michael Clare, Nathan Drown and Nigel Adonis.

Building the culture is Filpo's biggest priority to get things set up for long-term success and retaining players is always key to that.

"Having the returning players really was key because over the years I kept on feeling like we were starting from scratch all the time, and we couldn’t create that culture because of all the new players coming in every year," Filpo said.

"But going back to November we did some group sessions where we talked about our values and what we all want to hold each other to.

"You have a whole mix of players at different points of their careers in the NBL1 so it's not easy to get everyone all buying into the same vision, and that's where the challenge comes in.

"But we had a chat about that and how we all have different expectations and goals, but at the end of the day we have to have team goals, which is what we have to run things around. I think that's paying off now with the culture you can see we are building."

Importance of win in Geraldton

The path to any success needs big marking points along the road and for East Perth, winning in Geraldton and making that sort of a statement to themselves they could do it was a big goal coming into 2024.

Not only were the Buccaneers the reigning champions, but had won 19 straight games at home dating back two years when East Perth arrived in Geraldton back on May 11.

Not only that, but the Eagles had not beaten the Buccs at all since 2016 and not in Geraldton since that championship year of 2014, so Filpo knew that for this East Perth team to start on the path to success, winning in the league's toughest venue against the benchmark team was a target.

The Eagles managed to make that quite the memorable trip by getting the job done in what is still the only loss that the Buccs have suffered this season which Filpo is still rightfully chuffed about.

"It really was huge and I wouldn’t say it's our only defining moment, but it was definitely one of them. At the start of the season I said that if there was a game that we were going to win this year and it was that one," Filpo said.

"We had a big focus on that game and coming up with a plan that could work against Geraldton, and it was one that we had to get. We were going to do everything we had to do to bring that one home, and it was massive for us to get it done.

"It gives us that belief even now that we can go up there and win, and even when they came down here and beat us, it doesn't take away from what we did. It's a tough road trip, you've got the bus ride and the guys are all out of their usual routine, and then you get to the game and you have that crowd against you to deal with.

"We were there to do our job and to overcome that adversity and beating a ridiculously good team gives us a lot of belief. They are the benchmark because they play how everyone wants to play, and that's why beating them means so much because they are a team that so often refuses to lose.

"They tick all the boxes of what you want your team to be so it took a lot of mental toughness from us to get that win, and it was huge for us."

Team going extra big

A lot of it is through just the way things have worked out and because of the versatility of the players within the squad, but this East Perth team that will finish the rest of the season in 2024 will go down as one of the biggest starting five line-ups in league history.

Now that Sunday Dech is off getting ready to represent South Sudan at the Paris Olympic Games and with things not working out with Jerami Grace, Filpo decided to go all in with the big starting five.

That has Taylor Young in the point guard spot but then the other four are all just about seven footers with David Okwera, Sebit Reath, Lee Roberts and Lukas Milner.

The only way for that to work is if you have big men capable of still playing a guard or wing spot, and that's exactly what Filpo has with Okwera and Reath, and that's why he is confident to keep backing in going big.

"The plan was for David to come in and replace Jarrad, but then after working out with him I just looked at him and thought this was a guard in a 6'11 body," Filpo said.

"At least he was a wing with the skills that he has and then if you look at Seb, he's similar and that was one of the adjustments we made last year was having Sebit play the three spot. He can be a huge threat from three and he puts the ball on the floor, and with one dribble he's at the rim.

"So we started using those guys differently and I think it's fair to say differently to how other teams had used them. Us having those other true bigs with Lee, Sharif at Lukas allows us to do that because we have the luxury of having these long guys sitting in the three spot and David has even been playing as a guard.

"At the same time, we don't really have guys playing particular positions and we play a style where we are just running and gunning. We have offences with guys in all different positions and we've got that flexibility, and it comes down to who you can guard," Filpo added.

"So we look at if David can guard with whoever the guards are that he comes up against, and usually the answer is yes and that's all that matters.

"That big line-up has done good for us and hasn’t worked other times for whatever reason, but it is definitely a luxury for us and it has its pros and cons to be fair."

Taking over as coach at end of 2022

Going back to the end of the 2022 season, and Filpo did coach the last three games of that year including to wins over the Lakeside Lightning and Kalamunda Eastern Suns, which gave him the itch to being the head coach.

He ended up replacing Luke Coburn full-time at the end of that season and threw himself fully into wanting to make the most of the opportunity to coach the club that means so much to him and his family dating back to his parents.

"It is starting to come together so I am super proud to be seeing that. Going back to the end of 2022 and I was the assistant, but I was able to coach three games at the end of that year and coach had COVID so I took over to test the waters," Filpo said.

"We were coming off a 10-game losing streak and then won a double-header and sort of pricked a few ears up on the board.

"While I did want to coach, I wasn’t expecting it but then when I got the chance to coach those three games, and we got a win in overtime at Lakeside and came back home to beat Kalamunda.

"That's when I realised I kinda liked doing this and in the end, Luke resigned at the end of the season and the board asked if I wanted to continue in the role."

Building the culture first

Having been able to figure out what works in business with the creation of IT company CMTG and how important culture is to build before thinking about success, Filpo took a similar approach to getting things in place on the Eagles men's program.

"I always felt as though it wasn’t something you could turn around quickly and a lot of comes through the business," he said.

"Mia and I have had our IT company now for 25 years and a lot goes into building the people and the foundations that you need, and you can't just go out and recruit players and expect to win.

"To have sustainable success you must have a strong culture and set of values, and things that we get buy in from. Once you decide that's the way you want to run the team, you could have the best players in the world, but if they don’t buy into your culture then it's just not going to click."

Positive signs to close 2023

Filpo knew that it was a long-term process and there might be some growing pains early to end up setting things for the sustained success he was hoping for, but even he didn’t think things would be quite so challenging to start 2023.

The Eagles lost the opening eight games of the season and 11 of the first 12, and there were some big decisions that had to made with Lukas Milner eventually arriving to replace Naaman Hightower.

Then come the back end of the year, everything started to click and East Perth went on to win six of the last 10 games, and five of the last seven with those only two losses coming against Geraldton who went on to win the championship.

When Filpo then wanted to try to keep that momentum going, he liked the response he got with everyone wanting to return who he asked and then with the news that Sunday Dech wanted back in at the club he started at too.

"I felt like it took us a little while last year to click and it did require a couple of changes in personnel and some adjustments to our rotations with our combinations to figure out the formula," Filpo said.

"Then as a result of those changes, it's fair to say that most bought in and a couple that didn’t, and you just have to move forward with the right players. We were able to create some momentum at the end of the season and I think Geraldton were the only team that beat us in that run.

"We knew we were starting to find something and the fact that everyone who we asked to return wanted to come back for this year, that was something I was proud of.

"That meant you were building something that people wanted to be part of and return to, and to then be able to bring in Sunday and David, that meant a lot because they could have chosen to play anywhere they wanted in the country and to be fair, make a lot more money."

Silver lining of losing captain for 2024

Filpo certainly would never say he was happy to lose his captain and seven-foot centre Jarrad Anastasio for the 2024 season because of everything he can provide in terms of a shot blocker and rim protector, post threat and how he can play above the rim.

He is also well and truly versatile enough to step out to the perimeter at both ends too, but once he ruptured his ACL in the pre-season Filpo knew he needed to find a replacement, and it's fair to say Wildcats young gun Okwera was ideal in so many ways.

"We also lost Jarrad in the pre-season to an ACL and he was our captain. He is a great leader and is still around, but he was a massive loss and having him go down could have potentially derailed things for us," Filpo said.

"He isn’t the sort of guy to go and get 20 and 10, but he changes so many shots and is a great rim protector, but he also has the ability to switch onto a guard and defend him on the perimeter.

"So being able to have David come in helped us cover that even though they are obviously different players. They do have some skill sets that are similar and it's not just the seven-foot wingspan, but the other things they can do."