Malone getting to showcase ability with Eagles

Featured image: Mark Filpo (@codexdesignstudio)

Brooke Malone learned plenty from an eventful 2025 NBL1 season and now she's getting her wish to play under coach Jonelle Morley and alongside Stacey Barr with the supremely talented 23-year-old now showing her full ability and versatility with the East Perth Eagles.

Malone just celebrated her 23rd birthday on Monday only three days after starring with 23 points, 11 rebounds, six steals and two assists in her first game with the Eagles against a Perth Redbacks team she last played in the NBL1 West with back in the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

She wanted to try something different in 2025 and started out the NBL1 season in the North at the South West Metro Pirates before finishing it in the South at the Casey Cavaliers ahead of a return to Western Australia in 2026.

Malone wasn’t sure exactly where she'd be playing in the NBL1 West but that soon became obvious after one conversation with coach Morley and now she's starring with 16.3 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.6 steals a game in an East Perth team sitting second at 9-2.

>> EAGLES RECAP | WOMEN/MEN HERITAGE ROUND

>> FRESH EAGLES START EVERYTHING BARR WAS HOPING FOR

>> JADE'S SIGH OF RELIEF OVER SUCCESSFUL RETURN WITH EAGLES

>> ODUDE THRIVING AND CREDITS EAGLES TEAMMATES, COACH MORLEY

>> LIGHTNING QUICK WRIGHT LOVING LIFE AT EAGLES

>> TWO-TIME CHAMP WANTS MORE SUCCESS WITH EAGLES

It was an easy sell for Morley to get Malone to want to come to play with the Eagles once she was appointed coach.

"Look I've been chasing down Jonelle for a few years and every time I tell her if she goes back to coaching to let me know," Malone said.

"In the end, it was for me that I was pretty open for where I would go and then Jonelle pretty much said what she wanted to say, and I was like, yep sign me up."

Playing against former team

When Malone returned from her time at the University of Idaho, she came back to play at the Perth Redbacks and put together two strong seasons there in 2023 and 2024.

It was just an itch to try something new that took her away in 2025 and then last Friday night presented the first chance to play against her former team.

There might not have been a whole lot of former teammates left aside from Shenae Hartree, Ashlyn Lee and Mya Dimanlig, and she enjoyed that first encounter against them especially to come away victorious.

"It is a bit strange and I had a season in between so I was a bit lucky in that regard, but it's always good to go against your old team," Malone said.

"You have a bit more fight for it and you want to win, and we ran away with it so it was the one we wanted.

"It might be a little different when you go to their place versus when you're at home, and you try not to focus on it and just treat it like any other game. You just have to go with that mentality and hopefully get the win, and we did."

Eventful year in 2025

Having just turned 21 and coming off two strong NBL1 West seasons at the Redbacks and looking to further her career, Malone thought it was time to try something new in 2025.

That saw her start the season in the NBL1 North with the Pirates where she played four games before moving to the South to play nine more matches with Casey.

While she didn’t necessarily expect it to be such an eventful year in two separate conferences, she did learn plenty and was glad she took the leap.

"I think it was about a lot of adaptability and it was a learning experience for me starting at one club and having a completely different game style to what I've been used to," Malone said.

"That meant that I had to change my game up a little bit and then things within the club changed and I had an opportunity to move.

"I thought while I was over, I might as well try another league and I knew the South was really strong so it was good to put myself against.

"I think you take away things wherever you go and having different insights from different coaches definitely helps. Then you can take that back into this year."

Chemistry coming together so quickly

Not only is Malone new to East Perth in 2026, but so are the majority of her teammates including Stacey Barr, Sarah Mortensen, Sydney Wright, Jade Williams, Jo Odude and Millie Gerreyn under coach Morley.

The connection the group has already created on the court is obvious with the 9-2 record to be in second position in the NBL1 West, but they have clicked together off the court too.

The new group has instantly all come together as a close unit who thoroughly enjoy each other's company and Malone credits coach Morley for recruiting players who would all click on and off the court.

"We've definitely been really lucky that we've all got along and I think Jonelle did a really good job of getting a group of girls together that she knew were good people as well as good basketballers," Malone said.

"I think that's reflect on how we've gone so far this season, and winning always makes it better. We learn every week that we're going to keep getting better and I think by the time finals come around we're going to peak so I can't wait for it."

Playing alongside some superstars

One thing Malone never enjoyed too much in all her NBL1 West career up to the end of 2024 was playing against two-time MVP Stacey Barr when she was at the Warwick Senators.

She also didn’t enjoy playing against Sarah Mortensen twice when she was at the Cockburn Cougars back in 2023 including when she put up 42 points in one of those encounters.

So another big bonus for Malone was getting to call those two teammates in 2026 by joining the Eagles and no longer opponents.

"I mean it's nice to be on the same team as them now and I've played against Stacey for a few years, and she's an incredible player," Malone said.

"I think it's been very lucky and I've learnt a lot from her on a leadership side as well. Then Sarah, she's just such a hard worker and she really elevates the whole group and she's taught me a lot of things.

"I'm still coming into my game so getting to experience both of them day in and day out is really good for me.

"I think the more work I put in and the more experience I get from being around high level girls then the better I will be, and hopefully I can implement that further on down the track."