Roberts accepts new role for Eagles growth

Featured image: Mark Filpo (@codexdesignstudio)

Lee Roberts has shown he can still be a dominant NBL1 West force this season but the East Perth Eagles captain is happy to step back to allow opportunities for others and likes their prospects heading into a third straight finals series.

Roberts has still had games this season of scoring 26 points and of being out there for 30-plus minutes, but as captain for a full season for the first time, he's embraced the mindset of doing whatever is best for the team even if that means a lesser role for him.

That's something with the career that he has had can be difficult to accept where he's never played anywhere around the world since his first season in Germany back in 2009 of averaging less than 12 points or 20 minutes a game.

That included his 2017 season in the then SBL where he ended up being Grand Final MVP for the Perth Redbacks with 22.1 points and 10.6 rebounds a game, and some dominance in Denmark, Japan, Argentina, Israel, Italy and Uruguay.

He's now closing in on 200 games in the SBL/NBL1 West as well, but he knew coming into the 2026 season that the best thing for his longevity might be playing a little less at 39 years of age while it was important for East Perth to empower some others.

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The end result has been that Roberts is still playing a key role whatever minutes he's on the floor for, but he's also fully embraced his leadership role as captain.

That's now meant that the Eagles have made the finals for a third straight season with an elimination final to come this Saturday night on the road to the Willetton Tigers.

It might not have been easy, but he's happy with the way things have panned out in 2026.

"It's definitely one of the harder adjustments in my career and obviously I've been a No. 1 player for most of my career on the teams I've been on," Roberts said.

"But what I do like about it is just being able to empower my teammates and be behind them, point out some things and being the captain and them listening to me and appreciating the information that I give him.

"Yes, it's hard individually, I won't lie about that but I always put the team first and whatever I can do to make sure that our guys are good and ready to go, I take pride in that.

"The ego is one thing and I've had a long basketball career, but you've got these guys who are in the middle of their careers or at the start, and trying to make a name for themselves.

"I only think it's fair for them to get their chance as much as I really want to play, these guys are doing the job and we've made the playoffs again this year and we have high expectations.

"I'm just happy to still be able to put up some big numbers sometimes at my age and keep up with these young fellas."

Three straight years of finals

Roberts first joined East Perth back in the 2021 season having previously played in the league with the Redbacks and the Joondalup Wolves, and at that stage the Eagles were in the wilderness in a lot of ways.

They hadn’t played finals since winning the championship in 2014 but the growth has been continuous since building up from four wins in 2022 to seven in 2023 and then breaking through for a drought breaking finals appearance in 2024.

Then last year East Perth won a final for the first time since that 2014 Grand Final when they beat the Joondalup Wolves in the elimination final and Roberts is proud they've now made it three straight playoff appearances.

"I think each year we've improved and yeah, we came in eighth place again but once the playoffs start it's a 0-0 record and you can see that from our years past," Roberts said.

"We made it to the second round last year beating Joondalup and it's good to make sure that we make it so it does show how far we've come and that we're heading in the right direction."

Group coming together at right time

It has been a rollercoaster ride of a season all the way through 2026 for the Eagles, but what has never been questioned is the quality of the squad and what they are capable of if everything that clicks.

Prior to losing the last two games to top four teams Geraldton and Cockburn, East Perth had been building nicely with three straight wins against the South West Slammers, Lakeside Lightning and Perth Redbacks.

Even the losses the past two weeks and the signs have been encouraging and Roberts does feel they enter the finals in good form and with confidence.

"I think that's sort of what every team wishes for to be playing their best at this time and we've had a long season with a lot of injuries, a lot of players in and out, changing imports and just a lot of change for us," Roberts said.

"For us I think it was the Redbacks to see us come together like that and be putting it together and going on a three-game winning streak showed what we can do.

"We then lost up in Geraldton and it's hard to win up there, but there's a lot of good we still took from that game and we're still in that upward trajectory right now. This is where every team wants to be going into the post-season."

Team built for the finals

It's an East Perth roster that includes veterans like Roberts, Ioannis Dimakopoulos and Jermaine Malie, and then three players who were all part of NBL26 with David Okwera, Lat Mayen and Jonah Antonio.

Two-time All-First Team member De'Sean Parsons joined mid-season as well and then there's emerging locals like Nick Filpo, Kai Kabugua and Mitch Benger.

It hasn’t been smooth sailing, but the first step was to qualify for finals and now that they are there, Roberts is feeling good about their prospects of what could be possible should they beat the Tigers at Willetton this Saturday night.

"From the beginning of the season you had to squint to see it but as the season comes along it's opening people's eyes to how this is really coming together now," Roberts said.

"You've got all the pieces here and we've got role players, we've got young guys, we've got vets and we've got experience and championship experience on this team.

"It is a matter of us just coming together at the right time and putting these things together, and everybody sort of playing their role.

"I think over the last few weeks in the practices and video room and everything, you can see everybody starting to more buy into that and realise that we do have the potential that we can compete for a championship this year."

Seeing his daughters quickly grow up

Up until the last couple of years and Roberts was playing basketball 12 months of the year splitting his seasons in Perth with playing in South America, and sometimes that included his daughters travelling with him and sometimes it didn’t.

But the best part of settling and staying permanently in Perth the last couple of years is always being around Jadeyn and Jayme, and spending time with them and seeing them grow up so quickly will always be the best part of his life.

"It's been just an amazing journey with them and it's been really cool just being able to be in one place for a while and being able to focus on them, and what their activities are," Roberts said.

"They're both growing at an incredible rate, they're going to be super tall and athletic, and I'm sure basketball could be in their future if they want it to be.

"They're both doing their own things and it's just been a blessing being able to have them around the team. They love being here and the team loves them so just being in this environment, I couldn’t ask for more."