Eagles Rd 4 Preview | Home v Wolves

Image credit: Mark Filpo (@codexdesignstudio)

The East Perth Eagles are back home at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre for the first time since the opening night of NBL1 West season with both teams looking to keep their winning momentum going against the Joondalup Wolves.

Both the Eagles women and men had impressive wins back on Easter Thursday on the road to the Kalamunda Eastern Suns and will looking to back it up at Peter Campbell Basketball Arena this Saturday evening against the Wolfpack.

The Lady Eagles look to remain undefeated with their clash getting underway at 5pm with the men's match up tipping off at 7pm.

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WOMEN

The Eagles are just one of three remaining teams in the women's NBL1 West competition yet to taste defeat in 2025 as they host the winless Joondalup Wolves on Saturday evening.

It's been a tremendous opening to the season for the Eagles under new coach Tim Symons with the wins against the Rockingham Flames, Mandurah Magic and Kalamunda Eastern Suns.

It would have been a nine-day break from the Easter Thursday win by 23 points away to the Suns before the Eagles now return to action at home to the Wolfpack this Saturday evening.

East Perth puts that perfect record on the line against a Joondalup team who has started the season with losses at the hands of the Perth Redbacks, Cockburn Cougars and Warwick Senators.

While the Wolfpack haven’t won a game yet, those losses have been against two of the three teams yet to lose in 2025 and then also against a Senators team who finished second at the end of last season.

There has been a lot to like with what the Eagles have been producing so far this season with the average winning margin of 16 points and with point guard Abby Cubillo (18.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.7 assists) and centre Sasha Goodlett (20.7 points, 9.0 rebounds) especially impressive.

Then there's what Madison Torresin (14.7 points, 8.3 rebounds), Awatea Leach (10.3 points, 5.7 boards, 3.0 assists), Tessa Morrison (9.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists), Taylor Roberts (7.7 points, 4.7 boards) and Akim Lual (4.3 points, 3.0 rebounds) are delivering.

There's still plenty of improvement within the group to come together as they get used to playing with one another and also while not yet being at full strength.

Despite all that, coach Symons and his team won't be taking the Wolfpack lightly as they return home for a second game at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre for the 2025 season.

"It's probably no different to Kalamunda and they've had a tough start, but they can be a bogey team," Symons said.

"They've got some tough characters in that team and they shoot the ball. They just need a night where it clicks and all of a sudden we're going to be up against it.

"We don't take them lightly that's for sure and in preparation we'll highlight their strengths and weaknesses, and like (Mark) Utley says, we'll look for turtles. We'll look for the person who sticks their neck out and they'll be the one for us to attack.

"We might be looking at 34 minutes of zone based on trend and we like playing against that because we have a big presence. Hopefully it won't be a zone game for the people on the sidelines, but we'll make it pretty exciting regardless."

MEN

The Eagles men broke through for a first win of the season last Thursday night and will look to back that up with a first home victory of the season when hosting the Joondalup Wolves this Saturday night.

East Perth opened the season losing at home to the Rockingham Flames and then on the road to the defending champion Mandurah Magic leading into the Easter Thursday match away to the Eastern Suns last week.

The Eagles came away with the seven-point victory on the back of coming from behind to score the game's last 13 points to open their account for 2025.

The next challenge is back on Peter Campbell Basketball Arena for the Eagles against a Wolfpack team currently sitting with a 2-2 record following wins against the Geraldton Buccaneers and Cockburn Cougars either side of thrilling losses to the Perth Redbacks and Warwick Senators.

It is a dangerous Joondalup outfit that East Perth comes up against on Saturday night with the line-up featuring emerging point guard Ethan Elliott, MVP contender CJ Turnage, new import Joey Baker, and then important contributors Caleb Davis, Damon Ballantyne, and captain Jordan Wellsteed.

That sets up a fascinating match up but there was a lot to like from the Eagles in last Thursday's win including strong performances from Max Rice (22 points, five rebounds, four assists), Taylor Young (14 points, seven boards, five assists), Ioannis Dimakopoulos (11 points, six rebounds), Chier Maker (eight points, six boards) and Lee Roberts (six points, 10 rebounds).

Another highlight last Thursday night was the debut of 17-year-old rising star Kuron Swaka Lo Buluk who had a sizeable impact in his 3:30 of court time to help turn the tide East Perth's way in the second quarter.

He is now excited to be playing his first home game with the Eagles this Saturday night and is looking forward to the challenge of the calibre of players he'll come up against from the Wolves.

"Yeah Wolves are good you know, they got some big guys like CJ Turnage and shooters like Caleb Davis and Joey Baker," Swaka Lo Buluk said.

"They also got Ethan Elliott who is a good guard but I think we can definitely match up with them but to win the game it’s us playing as a team and sticking to the scout.

"Also playing my first game at Morley for NBL1 will be fun. I will definitely have some friends and family watching but we definitely want to get the win this week as we’ve got more tough games ahead of us."