East Perth Eagles player Sunday Dech.
Camera IconEast Perth Eagles player Sunday Dech. Credit: Supplied/Marcus Whisson, Marcus Whisson www.communitypix.com.au d414175

Eagles aim to take the next step

Belinda Cipriano, Eastern ReporterEastern Reporter

The team recently started pre-season training and coach Adam Forde said they were preparing for a big year, with names including Sydney Kings guard Kyle Armour, Sunday Dech and big-man Tom Jervis all set to hit the court.

‘We just started training and so far it’s going pretty good,’ Forde said.

‘We had trials to bring in a few new rookies last month, but this is the second week of pre-season training with the senior group.’

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Forde said they were currently concentrating on improving cardio, including doing more running and conditioning work, and in a few weeks would start doing more on-court training.

He hopes the preparation will provide the side with a win come game day on March 14 against the team that knocked them out of the semi-finals last season, the Lakeside Lightning.

‘We lost Jarrod Balcombe to a real bad knee injury and he won’t be able to step on the court until June so that’s a big loss for us,’ he said.

‘So we had to find another guard who can score 20 plus points and we found that with Kyle Armour, who is currently with the Sydney Kings.

‘He’s a dynamic point guard who fits perfectly into our pick and roll style offence.

‘Along with Kyle, Sunday Dech returns to us after a season with the Wildcats, so with those two, Drew Williamson and Joe Tupaea returning, we’ll be looking for more points production in our back court.’

After a year in the National Basketball League, Tom Jervis was announced co-captain along with Drew Williamson last week, which means the team’s line-up hasn’t changed dramatically, but according to Forde everyone returning has got better and for the coach that means hopefully winning a championship.

‘Our style of play will be much of the same as the last two years as we were able to produce a lot of points, and people find that type of basketball exciting to play and watch,’ he said.

We have recruited a line-up to win a lot of games.

‘This isn’t a team looking to just be competitive.’