Eagles Rd 9 Preview | Friday, Sunday double

Image credit: Mark Filpo (@codexdesignstudio)

The East Perth Eagles have their first double-header of the NBL1 West season this WA Day long weekend starting away on Friday to the Perth Redbacks and then hosting the Goldfields Giants on Sunday.

Round 9 of the 2025 season is the first time that the Eagles have two games across the one weekend and it begins on Friday night at Belmont Oasis against the Perth Redbacks. The women's clash begins at 6:30pm followed by the men at 8:30pm.

Then on Sunday, East Perth are at home to the Goldfields Giants at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre with the women's match up getting underway at 11am with the men's game to follow at 1pm.

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EAGLES RECAP | RD 8 WOMEN/MEN

WOMEN

The Eagles women have a chance to further consolidate a top two spot in Round 9 of the NBL1 West firstly taking on fellow top four team the Perth Redbacks on Friday ahead of hosting the Goldfields Giants on Sunday.

The Eagles have made an impressive start to the season over the opening eight rounds winning six of their seven games with the lone loss coming when they did have a chance to snatch it against the Warwick Senators on the buzzer.

They now put that impressive 6-1 record on the line coming into a first double-header weekend starting on the road to the Redbacks ahead of then hosting the Giants.

First up on Friday night and the Eagles take on the Redbacks at Belmont Oasis featuring a match up of two top four teams with East Perth second at 6-1 while Perth are fourth at 7-3.

Both teams have strong depth but also some standout gun performers and for the Redbacks, they are led by Perth Lynx WNBL captain Anneli Maley who is averaging 24.1 points, 19.0 rebounds and 4.7 assists a game.

Then there is the hot-shooting Natalie Chou with 22.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.9 assists while Patty Brossmann contributes 14.3 points, 10.4 boards and 3.3 assists.

They are coming off a big weekend too beating the Joondalup Wolves and Willetton Tigers with Maley delivering 44 points, 38 rebounds and 13 assists, Chou making 9/11 from downtown, and Brossmann 25 points, nine boards and eight assists.

Then there was stand-in captain in the absence of Raya Thompson, Georgia Denehey, who went 9/13 from three-point range on Saturday against Willetton.

The Eagles, though, have their own impressive stars led by imports Sasha Goodlett with 23.3 points, 9.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists, and Madi Torresin 17.1 points and 7.1 boards.

Abby Cubillo is also delivering 18.1 points, 6.0 assists and 5.3 rebounds as point guard, and Awatea Leach 12.9 points, 5.9 boards and 4.4 assists.

Eagles coach Tim Symons is fully aware how dangerous the Redbacks are, but will always back in his team as long as they follow that scout defensively.

"It's probably no different than other teams to prepare for, they are definitely a talented team and one thing we've got to make sure of is that we do our scout and execute it," Symons said.

"There's been many a week going now especially at that defensive end where we talk about what we're going to do, but then don't do it.

"So there's the accountability piece on me of putting the plan together, but then the accountability piece on the team to execute what my plan is.

"That's the challenge for the girls this week and if you go pound for pound, yes they have some star players, but they also have to deal with Abby Cubillo, Awatea Leach, Madi Torresin and Sasha so I don't mind the match ups.

"But if we don't be ruthless on both ends of the floor, it's going to be a tough night at the office no doubt about it."

Following that Friday night contest, the Eagles turn their attention to hosting the Giants at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre with the game getting underway at 11am.

Having a Sunday morning tip-off time does create some challenges, but Symons will just ensure his team is focused on the task at hand knowing it's a dangerous Goldfields team led by quality imports Nici Gilday and Erin Antosh.

"It's not ideal playing a game that starts on a Sunday morning, but the positive is we'll be able to do our preparation for them on the Saturday," Symons said.

"We'll meet up as a group whether it be for breakfast or sometime during the day, and we'll prepare for that once we get Friday night done.

"It's a hard one because it's an 11am game and we don't traditionally play in the mornings, but hopefully people get good rest and they can't have a nap after they wake up.

"Goldfields have challenged a couple of teams and they put away Rockingham who were very, very depleted on that night, but they're a dangerous team and they are hungry to get wins and build a successful women's program.

"We don't take them light but we see this weekend as a chance to get two wins and start to cement our position up that ladder inside the top four."

MEN

The Eagles men got back to the winner's list last Friday night and will look to make it consecutive wins for the first time in 2025 starting the double-header against the Perth Redbacks before hosting the Goldfields Giants.

East Perth scored its third win of the NBL1 West season last Friday night with the 78-63 victory against the South West Slammers on Peter Campbell Basketball Arena.

Now the Eagles prepare for a first double-header of the season first up against the Perth Redbacks on Friday night at Belmont Oasis before then playing host to the Giants at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre on Sunday.

The Eagles come into the weekend with a 3-5 record on the season to be just one win behind the eighth placed Perry Lakes Hawks on the standings.

First up this weekend is the clash with the Redbacks who have now lost their past three matches and have been decimated through injury with Joe Cook-Green, Jacob Formosa, Lochlan Cummings, Mathiang Muo and Callan McDonald all missing some, if not all, of those recent matches.

It remains to be seen who the Redbacks have available come Friday night, but either way it's a chance for the Eagles to win consecutive games for the first time in 2025 and that's how hot-shooting import Max Rice is looking at it.

"They're definitely a dangerous team. We played them in the pre-season and they've got a couple of guys who can get hot," Rice said.

"We definitely can't let Cummings get hot and Joe Cook-Green didn’t play and we're not sure if he's back yet, but coach has been telling us that he gets a lot of shots up so he could be a dangerous player as well. They're a good team and we're expecting it to be a tough game."

Following that Friday night match, the Eagles will prepare to take on the visiting Giants on Sunday at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre with the game getting underway at 1pm.

Goldfields comes to Perth for their own road double this weekend currently sitting in third position on the standings with a 7-2 record ahead of playing the Warwick Senators on Saturday night ahead of the match up with the Eagles.

It's a Giants team coming off reaching the semi finals in 2024 and with plenty of weapons led by import pair Shaun Stewart and De'Sean Parsons and then with dangerous weapons Michael Jok and Joshua Duach.

That gives the Eagles plenty to worry about, but the Sunday afternoon time slot does make things interesting too and that will be the first thing for Rice to try and get on top of.

"You just have to wake up a little earlier and get your mental going a bit quicker to make sure you are switched on," Rice said.

"In college I think we did it a couple of times on Sundays but it's pretty rare. The biggest difference is just getting up and moving earlier, and just getting ready to go and then once you get to the building it's basically the same when you get into your routine no matter the time of day."