Okwera couldn’t be happier back home at Eagles

David Okwera produced 39 points, 24 rebounds and 11 assists in his first two games with the East Perth Eagles and he couldn’t be happier to be back home seeing just how good Morley Sport and Recreation Centre now looks.

Okwera did grow up spending plenty of time playing on the old courts at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre before he moved to Melbourne as a 16-year-old, and then would end up starting his NBL career as a development player at Melbourne United.

The talented big man would play the first 36 games of his NBL career with Melbourne before joining the Perth Wildcats for NBL24 and that meant he was able to come back home to move back in with his family, enjoy his mother's home cooking and reconnect with old friends.

Then when Okwera was deciding what to do and where to play in between NBL seasons at the Wildcats, he couldn’t think of anything he wanted to do more than come play at the Eagles.

The added bonus is the redevelopment of the stadium at Morley and the unveiling of the Peter Campbell Basketball Arena which was opened officially last Saturday night as the Eagles played host to the Warwick Senators with Okwera out there for the occasion.

Okwera might have had fond memories of the old Morley Sport and Recreation Centre before he went away to Melbourne, but coming back five years later to see the redevelopment, he's blown away and excited to be able to call it his home this season.

"Before I left to move to Melbourne when I was 16 I would go down to Morley Rec with a couple of my friends and play there," Okwera said.

"So just coming back and seeing the transformation and the new courts was awesome. I remember the first time going back in there, and I just went wow.

"The courts are so nice now and just being able to train and play there every day is awesome. They have done an awesome job, it looks amazing."

Coming off his NBL season at the Wildcats and at 21 years of age, Okwera had no shortage of options to play this off-season both in the NBL1 West, the rest of the NBL1 or even beyond.

However, he was enjoying being back home having joined the Wildcats for NBL24 so that meant he wanted to stay local, and for him there was nowhere more local than East Perth and he's already happy he made the right decision.

"It's definitely close to home for me so that was a big factor and I've also had a lot of friends I had growing up go on and play for East Perth," he said.

"And just hearing from their experiences playing for East Perth of how family orientated the club is, and how it makes them feel at home at the club, that really drew me in.

"Then obviously Sunday coming back who was a junior at East Perth, just getting the opportunity to play with him was so exciting. It's his junior club and I think everybody has that passion for their junior club because it's where you start playing the sport that you love."

Okwera played his first two games for the Eagles in Round 2 of the season and was instrumental in the Friday night win against the Eastern Suns on the road with 19 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.

He backed that up with another 20 points, 13 rebounds and six assists against the Senators at Peter Campbell Basketball Arena, and enjoyed not only getting out there with his new teammates, but to play big minutes again after not getting that chance in the NBL.

"It was good to get out there with the boys. It was good for me just getting back on the court and playing an actual game which was fun," Okwera said.

"It's been a long time since I've actually been on the court and played significant minutes so for me it was fun. And playing with the boys was awesome.

"We've got an awesome group of guys so just getting out on the floor and competing with them, and getting a win in my first game made it a good time."

It's always more fun playing on a winning team as well and Okwera has great confidence in how good this East Perth team of 2024 can be.

He's already enjoying being a teammate to seasoned professionals like Sunday Dech, Sebit Reath, Taylor Young and Jerami Grace along with a strong group of core locals including Nic Filpo, Noah Straatsma, Michael Clare and Anthony Filpo.

"Whenever you're playing on a team as talented as the one I'm on right now, it's always going to be fun," Okwera said.

"There's no game that you play in where someone isn’t doing something exciting and we have a lot of talent out there on the floor.

"We just have to keep learning how to play together and it's still early in the season so we'll get that working in no time."

Okwera was delighted to be able to be back home and to play at the Wildcats in NBL24.

Even though he didn’t get as many minutes as he perhaps hoped with just 5.5 minutes a game down from the 14.3 he averaged the previous season at Melbourne, behind Keanu Pinder and Alex Sarr it was always going to be tough, but he never stopped working on getting better.

"Obviously being back home and being with my family for this last NBL season," he said.

"As far as the playing time goes, that's not something you can really control so for me it was about still making sure I was still getting better behind the doors and not necessarily in front of the fans.

"So I was working as hard as I could with the coaches at practice and on off days putting the work in, and trying to get as good as I can all the time whether I was getting much court time or not."

After leaving home and moving to Melbourne at age 16 and spending most of the next five years there including starting his NBL career with United, Okwera was missing home and embraced the chance to join the Wildcats for NBL24.

It's fair to say a lot had changed and he had grown up a lot going from being 16 to 21 in between, but being back home now to enjoy his mum's cooking, spend time with the rest of his family and get to know friends again is something he is fully embracing.

"It's awesome being back home. There's no better feeling than playing at home in front of your family and friends so for me it's just been an awesome experience being home and being able to see my friends whenever we want to so it's been good for sure," Okwera said.

"It's definitely completely the opposite because when I was in Melbourne I was on the other side of the country from them all so even when I came home, it was hard to see everyone or to do much.

"But ever since I've landed back in Perth, I've been living back at home and just being around mum and enjoying her homemade food, there's nothing better than that. And just being around my siblings too, there's not a better feeling than that."