Newcastle Eagles Men’s Head Coach takes his side into their final pre-season match-up against Bristol Flyers at The Vertu Motors Arena on Sunday afternoon in confident mood.

So, he should be as his side have now played three pre-season games and won them all and will be looking to complete an unbeaten run of friendly fixtures with a win in front of their own fans.

It started with two games at the Eagles home arena with one behind closed doors a week past Friday against Newcastle Knights and then in front of their own fans against USA Select in front of a packed pre-season crowd last Sunday.

Both games ended in victory for Steutel’s men and he was particularly pleased with the way the matchups went and what he and his players could take from those games as he summed the first weekend together up.

“The games against Newcastle Knights and Team USA Select were positive runouts for us. It was important for us to come out of the games as healthy as we did going into them”, said Steutel.

“It’s always good at this stage to get guys acclimated and on the same page. To try and develop and identify our style of play and that was the most important thing for us.

Taking two positive results and performances on board and into preparation for another two games this weekend was crucial as Steutel went on to explain.

“We’ve been able to build up on that this week in practice and develop our identity, DNA and things that we want to do. It’s been good to take things further and have a really good solid week in practice”, the Eagles head coach added.

“We capped that off with a really good performance particularly on the defensive end against Manchester on the road Friday night.”

The Eagles were certainly flying high against a Manchester side that many are expecting to be one of the top teams in the SLB this campaign. Steutel’s side running out 88 – 74 with 25-points from Ray’Sean Taylor, 17 from Malcolm Smith and 15 from Cole Long.

“We’re looking forward to doing that again against Bristol and as always the excitement at this stage of the year for the opportunities and the potential ahead”, Steutel concluded.

“We always want to make sure we represent ourselves, the Club, our fans, the community and City as best as we possibly can. So, everyone is raring to go and excited for the season ahead.”

A win against Bristol will make it four from four in pre-season which is as good as it could be if it’s accomplished. However, whatever the result it will be 40 minutes of important basketball action as Steutel’s charges prepare for the 2025/26 campaign.

Tickets are still available on the box office and on the door for this 4:30pm tip-off at the Vertu Arena.