Wright expects Eagles to only keep improving

Featured image: Mark Filpo (@codexdesignstudio)

Sydney Wright couldn’t be happier with what she's joined in NBL1 West and at East Perth Eagles in 2026 but she's also in no doubt her team still haven’t hit their perfect stride and still have a secret weapon with one of her housemates to return.

Wright grew up with basketball in her veins with her dad, Joey, one of the greatest coaches the NBL has seen. As a result even though she's a proud Texan, she did spend plenty of time growing up in Australia and especially Adelaide.

She's spent a lot of time in different places since including splitting her college career at Utah Valley and then Western New Mexico. Following that she spent time back in Queensland playing in the NBL1 North, then had a season at Serbia and was back in Adelaide in 2025.

She played in the NBL1 Central at the Central Districts Lions, but was open to a new challenge in 2026. New Eagles coach Jonelle Morley got in touch at the right time wanting to make her the East Perth point guard and now the rest is history.

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Wright has wasted no time slotting into the Eagles with the dynamic point guard delivering 14.9 points, 3.9 assists and 2.6 rebounds in 34 minutes a game and including shooting 38 per cent from beyond the arc.

She has been instrumental in East Perth sitting in third position at 12-4 with just four matches remaining and she does feel like they are still on the improve.

"We're all feeling good and we're definitely starting to gel," Wright told The Hoop Hour on 91.3 SportFM.

"And you know what, honestly, I think if you ask any of us we still feel like we haven’t hit our perfect stride yet. I think that's awesome for us in the sense that we feel like there's a lot of things that we can improve on and be better at, but we're all feeling great.

"We all still have the same common goal and we're feeling good, and we're pumped."

Coming back from Kalgoorlie trip

Wright has had no trouble adjusting from playing at the Rockhampton Cyclones in the NBL1 North in 2024 and then in the Central at the Lions last season, but last weekend's trip to Kalgoorlie was a little eye-opening for her.

Leaving early Saturday morning to arrive in the afternoon to then play in a couple of hours was something she's not sure she could get too used to. It did remind her of the college days, but she was proud of the way the Eagles kept their winning form going against the Goldfields Giants.

"It's definitely a different layer to the season and I hadn’t been a seven-hour bus trip like this for a while," Wright said.

"Funnily enough when I was in college my team actually travelled by bus pretty far as well and we actually would be on 12-hour bus trips.

"So this wasn’t my first rodeo but it was my first rodeo in a while, and it definitely adds another layer of adversity.

"I think after this road trip I do have a lot of respect for the girls and guys out in Kalgoorlie who make that trip pretty often because it's not an easy thing to do."

Totally new group coming together

While Wright enjoyed what coach Morley told her that she was trying to build at the Eagles to recruit her, she still wasn’t quite sure how it would all come together with so many new players trying to come together at once.

It didn’t take her long once she got to Perth to realise she had no reason for concern. From the very start she's been blown away by how close the squad has become including the way they enjoy spending time together off the court.

That translates into the chemistry they've already developed on the floor and even the big names like Sarah Mortensen, Stacey Barr and Brooke Malone are willing to play selfless team roles just to make sure the Eagles keep on winning.

"You know, I don’t know but I felt like in the first couple of weeks that I was here and I was hanging out with the girls and a lot of us live together, and I just felt like they are my best friends," Wright said.

"That happened so quick and it sounded crazy because I'd just met these girls a couple of weeks ago. But I had that feeling instantly that they are my friends, it's genuine and we all have such a good time together.

"I credit that a lot to Jonelle because she did her homework and her research on all of us before bringing us here.

"One of the things that she told us when she was recruiting all of us was that personality was important for this squad.

"That's something that she values and I give a lot of credit to her because I think she hit it right on the head in terms of putting this team together, and we do all really enjoy each other's company. We go to dinners together, we work out together, we cook together and it's been awesome."

Getting to play with freedom

It doesn’t take long to watch Wright play to realise that she loves to push the ball, to play at great pace and to not necessarily play to a system, but to think on the go and make the most of her speed and talents to control the ball, and create for her teammates.

That’s where having a coach like Morley has turned out perfectly for her because she embraces her point guard playing with that freedom.

"She's great with letting us play our way and I think that's why our games are so much fun to watch, and to play in because she lets us be ourselves and cater to our strengths," Wright said.

"We obviously have some offensive sets but we probably don’t run them nearly as much as we should because we're usually trying to run and gun.

"But it's so fun for a player like me who likes to catch the ball on the wing and just go. She lets us do that and she also emphasises the importance of spacing and where players are supposed to be at.

"That works for all of us that we can get the best out of any situation so I think it might have taken us a few games a while, but now that the girls are used to playing with me they know that I'm going to push the ball the majority of the time.

"Hopefully that gets some good shot opportunities for all of us."

Focusing on winning possession game

Winning the possession game has been another focus for East Perth this season coming from coach Morley and a big part in that is creating more opportunities on the offensive glass.

As a result, the Eagles are the best offensive rebounding team in the league with 17.9 of them a game which is a big reason they're getting up 76.6 shots a game, only 0.3 behind Cockburn in that category.

Combine that with the Eagles having the fourth fewest turnovers in the league and getting to the foul line the second most times out of any team.

Wright likes the focus on making sure they win the possession game with a focus on that offensive rebounding.

"It's definitely something that Jonelle emphasises and we know that if we win the rebound count, we're usually in a really good position in the game," Wright said.

"She encourages all of us to crash relentlessly and so that's definitely something that we talk about, and work on at practice. I also think it helps that she recruited a lot of big rebounding players.

"Even Stacey is a big rebounding guard, Sarah rebounds the ball very well, obviously you have players like Jo, Jade and Brooke who all crash very well. I think it's a little bit of both but we do emphasise the importance of crashing the o-boards."

Season is flying by

Wright is someone likes to live in the moment so all she is thinking about right now is the Eagles hosting the South West Slammers this Friday night at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre.

But there is only three more games after that in the regular season for East Perth and what has surprised her just how quickly it feels like it's flown by.

"I'm definitely someone that takes it one week at a time and I'm a big believer that every game is important," Wright said.

"I walk into every game just as excited to play whether it's a quote unquote big game or not as big of a game. So we've got Slammers this week and I'm just as excited to play them as I was to play Rockingham in our last home game.

"I'm one week at a time and I think the only thing that kinda throws me off is I didn’t really realise how fast the season was going by until someone mentioned last week that we've only four more games of the regular season.

"But if you do start looking too far ahead you can lose focus on where you're at, and honestly I think every game in this league is so tough so you can't go into any of them taking anybody lightly. We put a lot of focus into the game that we have that week rather than looking ahead."

Still have a secret weapon to come in

Having moved to Perth for this season, Wright has settled into a house with two teammates also new to the Eagles and having a big say in how things are going in Mortensen and Zaya Black.

Initially the other housemate was Jasmin Fejo who also came across with her from Adelaide, but then ruptured her ACL at training following the first three matches.

Her replacement ended up being McKenna Dale but then 44 seconds into her first game against the Perth Redbacks she also injured a knee.

She has also moved into that house with the other three and Wright can't wait to see what she can do when she makes it back on the floor.

"We're super excited to play with McKenna hopefully soon and she is improving every day with her injury, and is doing the work and I have a lot of respect for her," Wright said.

"What she went through coming here was really unfortunate but she's handled it so well and I honestly think her having to sit and watch us play for a little bit has helped her gel with all of us rather than just being thrown into the fire, and trying to figure it out as you go.

"Sometimes that can be tough so we're excited for her return and we can't wait, and we think she's kinda like our secret weapon and once she joins us that will be the final piece to the puzzle."

Getting a surprise visit from dad

Wright also always knew that at some point this season her dad would make an appearance back in Perth where he has plenty of mixed memories from his days coaching against the Wildcats in the NBL at the Brisbane Bullets, Gold Coast Blaze and Adelaide 36ers.

She never knew when he'd be making an appearance and then got the shock of her life when he was already inside Peter Campbell Basketball Arena two weeks ago ahead of training on the Thursday night leading into the game with the Rockingham Flames.

"My dad came last week when we played Rockingham and he surprised me so I didn’t know he was coming," Wright said.

"I was walking into training on the Thursday night and sure enough he was sitting right there on the sidelines. That was so much fun for him to be here and watch a really good game of basketball as well, and I do think he'll be back.

"I imagine when it's playoffs time he'll make another appearance so this won't be the last time he'll be here."