Being ready for Round 1 a priority for Eagles

Criteria No. 1 for Carl Filpo entering the 2025 NBL1 West season for the East Perth Eagles was to have all his players available for Round 1 and he's ticked that box with imports Matthew Lang and Max Rice well and truly settled.

While Filpo has liked the team he has had to work with over the past two seasons, the Eagles been waiting for the likes of Lee Roberts and Lukas Milner was something they didn’t want to have to do again.

Going back to 2023 when Filpo first took over and the Eagles came roaring home late in the season, but left themselves too much work to do and narrowly missed finals before playing the first eight games of 2024 without Roberts, and the first 13 without Milner.

Now as the Eagles prepare to play their opening game of the season this Friday night against the Rockingham Flames at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre, there's a lot to be excited about but the best part for Filpo is that all the players are here and available.

HOW MEN'S NBL1 WEST IS SHAPING UP

That includes new imports Rice and Lang along with the inclusions of Ioannis Dimakopoulos and Chier Maker with Roberts, Taylor Young, Sharif Watson and Nic Filpo among the returnees for 2025.

"It's very exciting to have our full group here to start the season including our imports, and they've been here for more than a month now," Filpo said.

"Going back to the recruitment phase, if I couldn’t get the guys here for Round 1 then we were moving on to the next one so that was one of our key criteria because of what's happened with us waiting for them to arrive the last two years.

"I know some people say if they are good players then they'll integrate quickly and it doesn’t matter, but there's always going to be some adjustment and with our style of play and the way we're going to come out, there's going to be no room for selfishness or needing to take time to integrate anyone.

"The way that these guys are now sharing the ball and moving the ball, and the brand of basketball they are playing is super exciting," the coach added.

"A lot of the time imports come in and are expected to put up big numbers, and while our guys can definitely do that, they are fully integrated and bought into the team.

"They will share the ball as much as the next guy and I feel like that's only possible because we've had them here for a lot of the pre-season so they can be fully integrated into this group."

While the first priority for new signings was to ensure they could be ready for the start of the season, Filpo also had a focus to get the balance within the group right for 2025 with depth in every position.

That's certainly happened with the front court to now be powered by Dimakopoulos, Roberts and Watson while Rice, Lang and Maker all bring great versatility, and Fabian Johnson returns to be back up point guard to Young which allows Nic Filpo to focus on being a shooter.

All in all, Filpo can't be happier with the group he has at his disposal coming into the new season starting with those couple of bigs and some added point guard depth.

"The recruitment was on purpose in terms of the type of players we were looking for and how we put the team together," Filpo said.

"We were a bit top heavy last year and we were a big team, and in some games it worked in our favour and it probably didn’t in others.

"A lot of teams seem to be going the opposite direction with just the one big and a lot of guards, and Mandurah was a good example of that who won the championship last year.

"We're not necessarily trying to replicate that and we do still have bigs, I mean Ioannis is 7'2, and we are hoping Jarrad will play some basketball for us this year and he's another seven-footer.

"We've also got Fabian Johnson coming back to give us back up at the point to allow Nic to focus on being a shooter and slasher for us."

With Watson, Roberts and Young all on board with the Eagles who originally came out to Australia but are now playing as locals, and combined with imports Rice and Lang, and with the quality of Maker and Dimakopoulos, there's no doubting the quality in this East Perth team for 2025.

Filpo and his wife, club president Mia, were so focused on making sure they got their imports right too that they signed both Rice and Lang in person in the United States late last year, and ensured they were here well in advance of Round 1.

Lang went to the University of Arizona and since played in Europe to start his professional career while Rice is out of Boise State and comes down under off his first taste as a pro in Denmark.

Filpo couldn't be feeling better about the group he has but there's always that sense of trepidation before the season proper gets underway.

"We've also still got Shareef, Taylor and Lee, but have also picked up Chier Maker who played in Darwin last year. That's a great pick up and it's actually a homecoming for him," Filpo said.

"A lot of people don't realise because he was a DP at the Sydney Kings and then went to play in the North and played most recently at the Darwin Salties, but we picked him up out of the collapse of them.

"But when he first came to Australia he used to play with our SBL team when Fordey was the coach and he was a scrimmage guy so he is sort of coming home in a way and the first serious basketball he played was here at Morley.

"Both imports, Max and Matt, have fit right in and well-loved already by the group. They are great team guys who I can't speak highly enough of.

"I feel like we've got it right and they are ready after four strong pre-season games, but you just don't know until the real season starts as good we are feeling going into it."