Eagles Rd 10 Preview | Away v Senators

Image credit: Mark Filpo (@codexdesignstudio)

The East Perth Eagles take on the Warwick Senators for the second time already this NBL1 West season and on this occasion it's at Warwick Stadium with revenge on the mind of both the women's and men's teams.

Round 10 of the NBL1 West season will see the Eagles travel just up the road to Warwick Stadium for the two match ups with the Warwick Senators on Saturday evening.

The women's clash will begin proceedings at 5pm with the men's match up to follow at 7pm.

EAGLES GET REWARD FOR IMPROVED SUNDAY SHOWING

EAGLES RECAP | ROUND 9 WOMEN

EAGLES RECAP | ROUND 9 MEN

WOMEN

The Eagles and Senators women played out a thriller only five weeks ago and now do it all again this Saturday at Warwick Stadium with second spot in the NBL1 West going on the line.

Coming into the Round 10 match up and the Eagles remain in third position in the standings with a 7-2 record on the back of Sunday's emphatic bounce back win against the Goldfields Giants at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre.

They are coming up against a Senators team that is currently in second spot but only narrowly ahead with an 8-2 record meaning that whoever wins Saturday's match up will end up in that second place by the end of the weekend.

Since the Eagles did lose a one-point thriller to the Senators at home five weeks ago with both Madi Torresin and Sasha Goodlett having good opportunities just prior to the buzzer, they have bounced back with wins over the Mandurah Magic, South West Slammers and Goldfields Giants.

There was a loss thrown in to the Perth Redbacks last Friday night, but even in that the Eagles were on top through the first three quarters of the contest.

Also since that game, Warwick have gone on to have wins against Mandurah, the Perry Lakes Hawks, Redbacks and Giants with a loss to the undefeated Cockburn Cougars thrown in there.

The Senators have also added three-time championship winning guard Emma Gandini since while having announced the signing of another championship winner Robbi Ryan this week as well.

With second spot on the line and both teams looking to make a statement, Eagles forward Awatea Leach is looking forward to Saturday's match up with the Senators and the chance to make up for that one-point loss five weeks ago.

"I'm excited about it. I always say I hate losing by one point and I would rather lose by 100 than one, but that just shows that you just never know what's going to happen in this whole league on any given night," Leach said.

"It was an exciting game and it was also good to play up against a really well-known team like the Warwick Senators across the West.

"It was good to know that we can actually play up with them so I'm really excited about this game. It will definitely be a good match up that I'm really excited for, and I can't wait for it."

MEN

Last time the Eagles men played the league-leading Senators it didn’t exactly go to plan, but coach Carl Filpo is confident his team is better equipped to take it up to them last Saturday night.

When the two teams met five weeks ago at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre, the Senators were still undefeated by that stage and came away with the 36-point victory on the back of putting 118 points on the board.

That wasn’t the night that the Eagles were hoping for, but the signs have largely been good since even with East Perth going win-loss in the five matches since.

That has seen the Eagles suffer losses to the Mandurah Magic and Perth Redbacks, but in between score wins over the Geraldton Buccaneers, South West Slammers and Goldfields Giants.

That has East Perth currently sitting on a 4-6 record for the season to be knocking on the door of breaking into the top eight as they look to knock the Senators out of top spot by the end of the weekend.

Warwick are currently still in top spot with a 10-1 record but that's while sitting on the same record as the second placed Rockingham Flames.

The stage is set for the chance for East Perth to make a statement with Filpo also glad to have former Senators junior Jonah Antonio on board this time around to take on Warwick.

"Jonah gives us a big confidence boost and a big boost on the floor, and he has really settled into the team now," Filpo said.

"Even this week at training you can see him smiling and interacting with the boys in a way that the others who have been there for a while have been so he really is fully integrated now.

"So we're going into it with a plan that we feel more comfortable with and we've seen enough of them to know what they're about.

"We expect them to be good and to hit big shots and all that stuff, we just have to keep our heads and get through our stuff, and we're feeling good about it.

"If we're going to have to face them again, then this is a good week because the vibe in the team is really positive and everyone is up and about after that performance on Sunday.

"It's not lost on me that they're the best team with the best record, but at the same time we're feeling pretty good too and we're up for the challenge."