Sat
Jun 5, 2021
NBL1 West - Perth Redbacks Round 8 Preview

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by Chris Pike for Perth Redbacks
The run of road games in the NBL1 West competition continues for the Redbacks in Round 8 of the 2021 season when they head down to Cockburn to take on the Cougars on Saturday evening in the middle of this long weekend.
The women's contest begins at 5pm followed by the men's clash at 7pm.
The women's clash to open proceedings at Wally Hagan Stadium should be a tremendous one with little separating the Redbacks and Cougars on the table coming into the contest.
The Redbacks are currently sitting in fourth position with a 4-2 record while the Cougars are in seventh at 3-2.
The Redbacks have now played their previous three matches away from Belmont Oasis starting with a win two Friday nights ago against the East Perth Eagles before a narrow loss to Rockingham, and then an impressive 67-58 win against the Mandurah Magic last Saturday night.
The Cougars, meanwhile, have lost their last couple against the Willetton Tigers and the Flames as well, and will have already played in Round 8 on Friday night against the East Perth Eagles before tackling the Redbacks on Saturday.
Without doubt the match of the night to watch out for is the battle of the bigs with Maddie Allen leading the charge for the Redbacks up against Jessie Edwards who has joined the Cougars this season from the Kalamunda Eastern Suns on the back of a WNBL campaign at the Perth Lynx.
But both teams are anything but reliant on their one star big and it's going to be a fascinating match up, and a real chance for the Redbacks women to show they are genuine contenders if they can end this stretch of road matches having won three out of the four.
That leads into the men's contest at Wally Hagan Stadium on Saturday night and it's an important one for the Redbacks to try and return to the winner's list.
The Redbacks have currently won just two of their six matches of the season in the NBL1 West Men's Division to date including an eight-point loss to the Mandurah Magic last Saturday night and a 14-point loss a week earlier to the Rockingham Flames.
But prior to that they delivered their best performance of the season beating the East Perth Eagles by 33 points so that's the type of form they will be looking to replicate against Cockburn on Saturday night.
The Cougars come into the round with a 2-4 record and they will be playing East Perth on Friday night before taking on the Redbacks on their home floor on Saturday.
The chance is there for the Redbacks to deliver an impressive performance away from home before marking their return to Belmont Oasis against reigning West Coast Classic champions, the Warwick Senators.