Jonelle Morley had a clear focus when appointed East Perth Eagles coach to bring together MVP level players from other clubs, returning players to the NBL1 West and some interstate stars to give her a squad to win and thrill the crowds in 2026.

Morley had a clear game style that she wanted her team to play and she wanted everyone to have a rebounding focus as part of that, and once settled on that, it was about signing players who fit the bill.

It could hardly have turned out better as the NBL1 West and National Finals championship winning coach returns to a head coaching role in the women's competition at the Eagles in 2026.

>> MORLEY JOINS EAGLES WITH UNFINISHED BUSINESS

At the top of the signings list for East Perth is two MVP level players – a two-time winner Stacey Barr and then someone unlucky not to be an MVP but is a two-time championship winner Sarah Mortensen.

Brooke Malone then returns to the NBL1 West to add scoring and rebounding while Sydney Wright and Jasmin Fejo add plenty to the back court, Jade Williams is capable of plenty, and Tahlia Kelly, Zaya Black and Jo Odude will contribute strongly as well.

When Morley reflects now on the recruiting and putting the team together ahead of the season-opener away to the Willetton Tigers on Saturday, she admits it couldn’t have gone any better.

"My recruiting strategy this year covered a number of things and one of them was to build on the young, local talent already at the club," Morley said.

"Then it was to recruit good people and I wanted not only good athletes and people with strong basketball IQ, but for me it definitely it had to be good people who I knew could come together and create chemistry and a strong culture really quickly.

"I think we've been super fortunate to be able to have such a diverse group of individuals including interstate, international and even with people who have come from country Western Australia.

"I think when you individually look at all of those athletes, there are some special and outstanding ones there, but what excites me the most is the hope that we can bring all those outstanding individuals.

"If we can get them all working together as a team there's going to be some pretty special basketball and it will be a lot of fun, and it will be exciting to watch and we'll put on a show for the crowd.

MVP level signings

There are a lot of impressive names that Morley has brought to the Eagles for the 2026 season, but none more so than regular MVP contenders Stacey Barr and Sarah Mortensen.

Barr is a two-time MVP already and had another fantastic season with the Warwick Senators in 2025 including a huge grand final performance when trying to keep her under strength team in the contest against the Cockburn Cougars.

She was part of that 2022 NBL1 West championship team at the Senators with Morley as coach as well and now the pair will team up again with another MVP level player joining too.

Mortensen could consider herself mighty unlucky to not have been the NBL1 West MVP last season but she did end up with a second championship in three years.

She's gone on to do great things again since that NBL1 West season as well playing in Greece with Amyntas and then representing Denmark at the recent European Championships.

Bringing in two such high quality players sure was a recruiting coup early on for Morley.

"It's definitely a great way to start with those two and both of them are outstanding athletes, both of them have been really devoted to their clubs and might have just been seeking something fresh, a new beginning and something a little bit different," Morley said.

"I was incredibly fortunate to have both of them reach out and be keen to come to Eagles. When you put two really high calibre athletes into your program who want to play together, I think we're going to be able to create something pretty special with those two on court together."

Daughter of coaching great

If the Wright name sounds familiar that's because Sydney is indeed the daughter of NBL coaching great Joey who most recently coached at the Adelaide 36ers and previously at the Gold Coast Blaze, and prior to that with great success at the Brisbane Bullets.

He has remained living in Adelaide since his time with the Sixers and Sydney has spent a lot of her growing up there including playing locally. She is coming off a strong NBL1 Central season at the Central Districts Lions for 14.4 points, 4.8 assists and 3.2 rebounds a game.

Prior to that she had been at college with two years at Utah Valley and then another two at Western New Mexico before spending the 2024 NBL1 North season with the Rockhampton Cyclones before returning to Adelaide.

She was keen to try another challenge in 2026 and the dynamic point guard has joined the Eagles and Morley has full faith in what she's going to be able to give on and off the court.

"Sydney has blown me away since she arrived and she has really engaged in the culture at Eagles and the club as a whole," Morley said.

"She's helping out with school clinics, she's down at the stadium every single day putting in the work and she is an athlete for me that has a drive and want to get better, to win games and to meet new people.

"That's really exciting for me to get someone like that who gets off the plane and immediately can have that impact on her teammates.

"She's definitely a leader, she is definitely going to help us out in the point guard area for sure and she can handle the pressure, and take control of the game.

"I think she's shown herself in Adelaide, but it's important for her to put herself in the game outside of Adelaide and show people just what she can do."

Bringing back local WA gun

Another exciting addition for the Eagles in 2026 is Brooke Malone who makes her return to WA after an interesting 2025 on the east coast that saw her start in the NBL1 North at the South West Metro Pirates and finish in the NBL1 South at the Casey Cavaliers.

Prior to that she had put together two strong seasons in the NBL1 West with the Perth Redbacks following her stint at the University of Idaho, and she was right at the top of the recruiting list for Morley as soon as she was appointed.

Rebounding was high on the list of what Morley wanted from Malone and it's always been a great strength of hers including a career-best of 19 going back to 2024 with the Redbacks against the South West Slammers.

She's always been a more than capable scorer too who can put the ball in the hoop a variety of ways with a league best of 31 points also in that 2024 season with the Redbacks but she had another five games in that campaign of scoring 20-plus points.

For so many reasons Morley is excited to see what she can do with the Eagles in 2026.

"Brooke and I spoke very early on in the piece and she was definitely one of the first players that we signed, and that was a pre-existing that I have with her when she'd spent some time interstate," Morley said.

"We said we'd love to work together in the future and it was fortuitous that I got this new role when she was looking for a club.

"Brooke's only 22 and shows experience and qualities beyond her years as a leader, but she's played over in college, she's been with the Lynx program, she's played in a number of other NBL1 teams and the reality for me is that she's put that all together now.

"In the right environment she's absolutely going to excel and we're really excited about her length, her speed and she's scoring really well. She's a three-way scorer and she rebounds like crazy as well, and that was one of our things we put down as a focus in our recruiting.

"Every single player in our squad wants the ball off the ring and want to rebound so that was a focus of ours, and it was one of the main things I wanted Brooke to give us. We wanted her to come in and rebound, but she's really giving us so much more than that, it's amazing."

Chris Pike

Eagles women are going to put on a show