Winning Eagles helps Roberts accept hectic lifestyle

Image credit: Mark Filpo (@codexdesignstudio)

Taylor Roberts continuing to be a leader at East Perth Eagles while still playing 23 minutes and being a standout shooter as a mother of two daughters and working is a credit to her, but winning again in NBL1 West does make it worth it.

Roberts continues to be in a leadership role at the Eagles in 2025 and is making a significant impact on a team currently sitting in fifth position by the end of Round 13 while playing 23 minutes a game and shooting the three ball still at over 36 per cent.

She is doing that while raising her two young daughters, while working as a teacher's aide and then having to do all the workouts, training, recovery and preparation to make sure she's still able to perform at a high level in those 23 minutes she's playing a night.

Ultimately, to be part of a winning team again this season with the Eagles with the current 9-6 record to be sitting in fifth position certainly makes it worthwhile for the 142-game veteran.

"This season feels like it’s gone really fast," Roberts said.

"But it’s been such a fun year with this group of girls so time flies when you are having fun. And winning, that's a bit of a new thing for East Perth women!"

Changes working for 2025

It's a decidedly new-look Eagles team for the 2025 season starting with Tim Symons coming on board as coach to continue a lifetime of commitment he's had to East Perth in a whole variety of important roles.

It's the playing group he's put together that's clicking including bringing in a standout point guard like Abby Cubillo and dominant centre with Sasha Goodlett, and then Madi Torresin, Awatea Leach and Emma Clarke in between.

While young players like Jaymie Symons, Ari Van Vliet, Aleka Kabugua and Akim Lual have remained on board at the Eagles in 2025, the two experienced players who play big minutes to be retained are Roberts and captain Tessa Morrison.

Both continue to play key roles too, but are thriving in an environment with high quality players around them and things are not only resulting in the winning record, but great chemistry off the court with the group.

"Yeah a lot of changes this year but I think it was very needed," Roberts said.

"We have such a dynamic group with a big presence inside, players that attack the rim and shooters, so anyone can get it going on any night and it’s hard to stop all of that.

"We all have confidence in each other and back each other which is great! Or biggest flaw is just ourselves at times and not getting through our stuff, but when we do, we are a tough team.

"We all get along so well off the court as well, it’s been a really awesome team vibe this year and I’ve loved being a part of it."

Having a dominant centre

It's amazing how much everything else can click on a team if you have a strong inside presence and there's precious few players around the league that fit that billing.

That's where the Eagles have struck gold by bringing in WNBA championship winner Sasha Goodlett who has put together a remarkable career playing all over the world.

She's delivering the Eagles 21.7 points and 10.3 rebounds a game this season, and Roberts can't speak more positively about playing with her.

"I love playing with Sasha. She is such an experienced player and is always giving out advice to make everyone better," Roberts said.

"She can absolutely dominate inside but the best thing about Sasha is she is such an unselfish player, she just makes the best basketball play.

"So if she gets doubled which a lot of teams have started to do, she’s a great passer and will get it to our shooters."

Embracing Symons as a coach

Roberts is also embracing having Tim Symons as the coach at the Eagles this season and while he might be gruff and direct with his feedback at times, at the end of the day he has a genuine care for each of his players and wants what's best for the team.

That's something that Roberts has instantly taken to in having him as coach and even if the players might always need to on edge to make sure they're not called out, she couldn’t have more positive things to say about playing under him.

"I better choose my words wisely here haha. No I’m kidding, Tim has been amazing," Roberts said.

"I think he has really surprised a lot of people with his performance as head coach this year. He really wants to get the best out of every player and work to our strengths and is a good leader.

"We always need to be switched on or we’ll end up on the baseline (running - yay) but there is always a level of fun and joking around as well.

"Never a dull moment with Tim, the girls have joked about writing a book with his one liners because he comes out with the craziest lines sometimes haha. I think he can come across scary at times but he does really care about each of us and is always available for a chat."

Dealing with a hectic lifestyle

It's fair to say that Roberts has a fair bit on her plate considering the commitment it takes to still play such a key role on a finals contending NBL1 team while then juggling being a mother to two girls and also having a career in education to give her attention.

It means that any down time or time to herself is certainly at a premium, or more accurately non-existent. At the same time she just takes it one day at a time dealing with all the challenges as they pop up, and wouldn't change anything about life right now.

"Any parent knows it’s one of the hardest things in the world but we all try to figure it out and do our best for our kids," Roberts said.

"I’ve been learning that to be the best mum to my girls I have to take care of myself and my happiness as well, and basketball falls into that.

"It’s always given me joy and even more so this year with the girls we have on the team and being able to put more time into pre-season and getting myself more ready physically than previous years.

"Things definitely don’t always go to plan but East Perth have been amazing with helping out when I need to bring the girls to trainings and games and they love coming to watch.

"My oldest wants to be a basketballer like her parents, my youngest wants to play golf but that’ll change by next week haha. And everyone is also very understanding when I’m late, the saying is that if I’m 10 minutes late I’m still on time haha."