Eagles and Tracy Village Jets ready for 2020 Darwin Basketball Association Championship final

THE talented Eagles on an 18-game winning streak are well placed to take home the 2020 Darwin Basketball Championship, but a youthful Tracy Village side full of talent and depth will do everything in its power to make the prize its own in the grand final.

Tracy Village’s Alex Weetra and Eagles’ Chris Elder are ready for their 2020 DBA Championship Final match-up. Picture: Glenn Campbell

THE talented Eagles on an 18-game winning streak are well placed to take home the 2020 Darwin Basketball Championship, but a youthful Tracy Village side full of talent and depth will do everything in its power to make the prize its own in the grand final.

Close encounters between the two sides through the season have set the stage for a thrilling title decider in which both sides will give it their all.

Eagles have been the form side of the DBA Championship, with their 18-game winning streak extending back to Round 5 in July, with their last loss in Round 4 incidentally coming against Jets.

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Eagles have since got their revenge on each subsequent match-up, their most recent win over the Villagers in the major semi-final seeing the side directly into the big dance.

The side has plenty of firepower with imports Chris Elder and Joseph Jackson causing problems for every squad in the league, alongside dangerous shooter Ambros Eugster. Rounding out their starting five is ever-consistent club veteran David Oates and regular scorer Pat Golong, the unselfish side working well as a unit.

And although the high-flying Eagles are in form, captain Elder played down their streak, mentioning it would only matter if it all came together for the final.

“Everyone is really pumped for this final particularly as we’ve been off the court for a couple of weeks,” Elder said.

“We beat them in the semi but this is a new game and you never what can happen. It’s up to us to study what we learned from that game and move on.

“This is maybe one of the biggest seasons that we’ve had.

“But you have to finish off the right way because it can still go both ways – either a great season or one where we came up short.

“We need to stay focused, play our game and just bring more than a solid effort.”

But Eagles will have more than a match when they take on a Tracy Village side that has come on in leaps and bounds in 2020, particularly as each match between the two sides has finished with a single-digit point difference.

The Jets are a young side with plenty of talent, boasting plenty of depth that will see them into the future such as Will Burton, Ned Stevens, Joel Stevens, Keenan Abbott, Thomas Malseed and Dante Ah Sam.

And the boon of having Jerron Jamerson has paid dividends for the young Jets all season, the star import bringing the experience of winning last year’s championship with Razzle.

Experienced heads such as captain Liam MacLachlan and Alex Weetra have been impressed with the growth of their young guns this season.

“Everyone’s really excited for the final. Everyone’s had a great season and though we dropped off a little mid-season we found form against Essington last week,” Weetra said.

“It’s been a huge season for us with a lot of our younger guys improving from last year.

“So it’s exciting times for the club, particularly with both men and women in the grand final.

“Eagles are a really strong side with 18 wins in a row.

“But of the three times we’ve lost it’s only been by single digits, so this will be a tough one but for us we only need to beat them once.

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“On the court it’s going to be about our run and our shooting and then also our defence where we will look to get stops, and then get onto our run from there.”