https://nbl1.com.au/news/how-mens-nbl1-west-is-shaping-up
How Men's NBL1 West is shaping up
There's top level NBL talent on board from the Perth Wildcats and beyond, there's some high quality imports and a strong group of returning players setting the stage for a mouth watering 2025 Men's NBL1 West season.
Fresh off being part of the 2024/25 NBL season, Emmett Naar, Isaac White, Elijah Pepper and Todd Withers have signed up for the 2025 NBL1 West season.
Former NBL Grand Final MVP Terrico White has also joined the Eastern Suns with Verle Williams Jr, Akeem Springs, Kortland Martin, Matthew Lang, Max Rice, Trey Crawford, Isaiah Lewis, Sam Freeman, Tyreese Davis, Taeshon Cherry, Calvin Whipple, Jamal Poplar, Jonah Underwood, Davin Miller and Jaden Stanley-Williams among the other new arrivals.
Mitch Clarke, Lochlan Cummings, Connor Mincherton, Jarrad Anastasio, Rowan Mackenzie, Corey Shervill and Hamish Warden are all familiar faces coming back to the league after being away whether through injury or playing elsewhere.
Ioannis Dimakopoulos, Damon Ballantyne, Shaun Stewart, Marshall Nelson, Lewis Thomas, Kyle Armour, Tevin Jackson, Seva Chan and Cooper Lowe also remain in the league but will be at new clubs in 2025.
The Mandurah Magic made history last year with a remarkable run not only to make a Grand Final for the first time, but to the win the club's first ever championship under the guidance of coach Mark Utley.
Keeping that group together was always going to be a challenge for the Magic and superstar import pair Joel Murray and Michael Durr won't be back, and nor will be Jarrod Molnar.
However, the majority of the rest of that championship group will be back including Julian Pesava, captain Chad Miegel, Lachlan Bertram and Jermaine Malie.
There are some other signings that coach Utley will be hoping come off just as well as some of those speculative picks in 2024 did including bringing across Victorian Nick Woodall, bringing down Cooper Lowe who he coached at the Eastern Suns, and welcoming Hamish Warden on his return to WA.
There are big shoes to fill with the imports from last season, but Mandurah have brought in Jahcoree Ealy and Sam Freeman for their championship defence.
The Willetton Tigers were so close to a championship breakthrough last season having beat Rockingham and Geraldton on the way to the Grand Final, and then being on top until the Magic produced a huge fightback to snatch the trophy from them.
The Tigers have had to sit without all off-season but there is every reason to suggest that coach Adam Nener again has a team at his disposal that will be right in contention.
Veteran trio Michael Vigor, Andrew Black and Damien Scott are once again on deck while 310-game veteran Kyle Armour makes his return to Willetton to join his former teammates once more.
Willetton has lost important players from last year's Grand Final run including Michael Dupree, Marshall Nelson and Deng Gak, but the new signings look impressive including import pair Tyreese Davis and Taeshon Cherry.
The Joondalup Wolves heartbreakingly missed a second straight Grand Final appearance by losing a nail-biting preliminary final at home to the Mandurah Magic last season, but there's every reason to expect the Wolfpack to contend again in 2025.
After a spirited run into the 2023 Grand Final, the Wolves finished second last season with a 16-6 record before beating the Willetton Tigers in the qualifying final but then losing at home in that preliminary final to Mandurah.
A lot of that core group under coach David Morrell is back again in 2025 including CJ Turnage, Caleb Davis, Ethan Elliott, Jordan Wellsteed and Gabe Chadinha.
The Wolves will also be boosted with the addition of the versatile Damon Ballantyne who had a breakout 2024 season with the Goldfields Giants along with new import Joey Baker along with Adili Kuerben.
It would have been a long summer for the Geraldton Buccaneers after they had a dominant regular season in 2024 finishing with a 20-2 record to be four games clear in top spot before being stunned at home in the preliminary final by the Willetton Tigers.
The majority of that core group including Liam Hunt, Mat Wundenberg, Aaron Ralph, Nik DeSantis, Johny Narkle and Joshua Keyes.
Geraldton has also added Verle Williams Jr who has racked up plenty of experience since first coming to Australia in rival NBL1 conferences with Akeem Springs on board as the second import.
The Goldfields Giants reached the semi finals last season and now with Lennon Smartt appointed the permanent head coach, they will be looking to build on that with the added excitement of their new home court being available to start 2025.
While Goldfields has lost some experience and quality through Mayo Malek, Randy Bell, Kon Anguik and Damon Ballantyne, the additions of former Mandurah and Geraldton point guard Shaun Stewart, NBL development player at Melbourne United Joshua Duach and returning college star Michael Jok are impressive.
It's been a rocky road for the Rockingham Flames since winning the NBL1 West and National Championship in 2022 with a top place finish in 2023 but just falling short of the Grand Final and also losing in the decider at the National Finals.
Then in 2024, the Flames started on fire winning their first five games, but then lost nine of the next 14 in the absence of Devondrick Walker before winning the last three matches which saw them finish at 13-9 and qualify for finals from seventh position.
The Flames then took care of the East Perth Eagles in the elimination final but then were blown away by former championship star Marshall Nelson and the Willetton Tigers in the semi finals.
Ryan Petrik remains coach after another WNBL finals campaign with the Perth Lynx but there has been significant player turnover coming into the 2025 season.
There will be no Walker, Jeremy Combs, Jono Janssen or Gorjok Gak, but the signings are impressive headed up by NBL guards Emmett Naar and Isaac White fresh off a season together at the Brisbane Bullets on the back of leading the Mackay Meteors to an NBL1 North championship.
Tevin Jackson has also made the move from the Perth Redbacks to join Rockingham while the Flames have brought in new import Jervon Pressley to a group still featuring captain Justin Beard, former captain Ryan Godfrey, Travis Durnin and the returning Callum Beard.
The East Perth Eagles broke through for their first finals appearance last year since winning the championship in 2014 and now coach Carl Filpo will look to take them up another level again in 2025.
While they won't have the services of NBL pair Sunday Dech and David Okwera and with Sebit Reath and Lukas Milner having departed, the additions look exciting for the Eagles and are all on deck ready for the start of the season.
East Perth has a readymade recruit with the return of Jarrad Anastasio from a knee injury while size won't be an issue with the recruitment also of 7'2 giant Ioannis Dimakopoulos.
The Eagles have signed import pair Max Rice and Matthew Lang as well, have brought in Chier Maker, and with the retention of Taylor Young, Shareef Watson, Lee Roberts and Nic Filpo, and it's an imposing looking East Perth group.
The Warwick Senators looked capable of big things at times in 2024 led by Todd Withers and Michael Harris, but in the end they were likely missing that one final piece. That would have been Zac Gattorna, who never ended up playing due to a back injury.
While Harris won't be back in coach Andrew Cooper's second season in 2025, Withers will return fresh off being an injury replacement import at the Perth Wildcats in NBL25.
His 'Cats teammate Elijah Pepper will join him as a hot shooting threat at the Senators while multiple championship winning point guard Mitch Clarke returns to the NBL1 West, and not to the Perry Lakes Hawks but to the Senators.
Championship captain Cody Ellis is back for another season at Warwick along with proven commodities Jay Thwaites, George Pearl, Tyler Shand and Brody England with Cooper Creek, the son of Giants legend Wayne, joining the Senators on his return from college.
The Perry Lakes Hawks narrowly missed the finals in 2024 with a 9-13 record to be in ninth position in the first season of coach Damian Barr.
The Hawks aren't used to not being part of the post-season action so will be looking to change that in 2025 with a changeover in their two imports.
Replacing Dequan Abrom and Jaylen Key are Jaden Stanley-Williams and Davin Miller while they have recruited 284-game veteran Seva Chan from Cockburn Cougars where Barr was previously his assistant coach.
The Lakeside Lightning at times in 2024 looked capable of beating anybody including scoring wins over finals bound teams Goldfields, Mandurah, Rockingham, Joondalup and Warwick, but the consistency wasn’t there and they finished 10th at 8-14.
Coach Mike Malat will now attempt to bridge that gap between their best and worst in 2025 and bringing back Lakeside products Rowan Mackenzie and Corey Shervill is certainly going to help that cause.
New faces for the Lightning also include AJ Wilson, Isaiah Lewis, Finley Payne, Michael Chigumbu and Trey Crawford while Josh Davey, Ben Lee, Michael Garbellini and Tom Parkinson are all back on board to provide that stability for the Lightning.
The biggest moves all off-season have been made at the Kalamunda Eastern Suns with coach Aaron Trahair looking to bring success to the hills for the first time.
The Suns did start to come together in the back end of last season winning six of the last 12 games having lost nine of the first 10 even though they did still miss out on the finals at 7-15.
There have been plenty of changes coming into 2025 headed up by the recruitment of former Perth Wildcats star and 2019 NBL Grand Final MVP Terrico White in one of the biggest ever NBL1 West signings.
It doesn't stop there for the Eastern Suns with Marshall Nelson and Travis Fee both making the move from Willetton's Grand Final team last season while Lewis Thomas gives them size and experience up front as does Joel Vaiangina.
Denzel Jackson also joins from the Perth Redbacks while Seb Salinas and Brendan Dinardo are among the players committed to return to help keep the ship running smoothly.
The South West Slammers had their moments in the 2024 season with six victories including beating both Grand Finalists, Willetton and Mandurah, in a three-game winning run late in the piece.
Buay Tuach was the star of that team averaging 23.7 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists, and while he won't be returning in 2025, there are some impressive additions the Slammers have made.
They have added import pair Calvin Whipple and Jamal Poplar that they will be looking for big things from while looking for continued strong contributions from Manny Wugol, Pharell Keats, Devan Craig, Jack Flynn and Cory Richardson.
The Cockburn Cougars are the team with the greatest turnover coming into 2025 with the loss of legendary captain Gavin Field, vice-captain Seva Chan and experienced guard Kyle Armour along with former NBL championship winner Rhys Vague.
Second-year coach Mark Clayden will now get to put his full stamp on the Cougars with a group that he's fully put together including the additions of new import Kortland Martin.
The departure of the experienced brigade will provide the chance for Charlie Dimmock, Josh Hunt, Austin Crowe-St Jack, Riley Eves, Riley Bensemann and Nathan Pond to all take on greater responsibility.
Nothing went right for the Perth Redbacks last season culminating in just five wins and a bottom place finish, but injuries along the way to key players Joe Cook-Green, Tevin Jackson, Jacob Formosa and Cousteau Kyle didn't help the cause.
Coach Charles Nix remains at the helm for the 2025 season charged with putting the Redbacks back in the finals mix and there has been plenty of turnover including the departures of Tevin and Denzel Jackson, Ioannis Dimakopoulos, Miles Gibson and Maris Colton.
Retaining the services of Cook-Green is a massive step for the Redbacks, though, while they have added new import Jonah Underwood while strengthening the back court with Lochlan Cummings coming back to the NBL1 West and Connor Mincherton back after a year off playing.
