Newcastle Eagles go into Sunday’s Super League Basketball Trophy Final against Bristol Flyers looking to extend their record both as the side that has featured in more Trophy Finals than anyone else as well as moving further ahead in the winners’ circle.

Sunday will be the 12th time Newcastle have appeared in the Trophy final. The first eleven when the competition was under the auspice of the former British Basketball League. On those eleven occasions they were victorious on seven occasions.

This time under the Super League Basketball banner they’ll be looking for an 8th Trophy win as well as registering the first ‘official’ piece of silverware in the Super League Basketball era. It is an unenviable record from the nation’s most storied franchise.

It also represents the first final that Head Coach Marc Steutel has led the club too and he’s personally very excited at that and having the opportunity to land his first piece of top-flight silverware at the helm.

“I’m excited for sure. It’s definitely been a goal to get some silverware”, said Steutel.

“The balance of understanding the legacy of our club and what it’s been built on and how much winning we have achieved here is really exciting.

“British basketball now in terms of it’s professional league is in a different part from where it was. There’s a lot of parity across the league a lot of equity. A lot of teams with high-level resource and high-level infrastructure so it’s exceptionally difficult to win in this league.

“You can see this year more than ever one through nine anyone can beat anybody. So for us to be in the first showcase event of the season shows the quality and ability of my group. That’s why I’m excited for sure.

“I think it’s that pre-game build up where I probably want the ball to be thrown up now. We feel like we’re ready for the game but excited for the opportunity. I think everyone associated with our club, fans, volunteers, staff, management, coaches, anyone and anybody in between we understand that we want to do this for everybody.

“I want to do this for our group and our programme. Hopefully we can go and get the right outcome.”

Going into the Final, Steutel has a group of players both experienced and inexperienced at this level and he will be leaning on those who have played in big showpiece games before.

“Even today we’ve tried to use the voices of those people that have been there before”, the head coach added.

“In particular at this arena in Birmingham so we they can feel confident in sharing and talking about their experiences. Even some logistical things.

“Pre-game you only get 20 minutes on the court and that’s something that’s learned through experience. Someone like Darius, Will, Jordan and Josh, guys who have won in this league before and all four of the have won silverware in this league.

“Then someone like De’Sean Allen-Eikens in his college career has shown that he was able to go to a programme that wasn’t winning and turned them into a winning one. Winning has various different forms and faces across the world globally but for us now winning this game and getting some silverware is the most important thing.

“Everybody knows Seneca Knight is a heck of a basketball player. His team last year wasn’t a winning team but he’s shown this year that he can have a massive impact on a winning team.

“Everyone has their own individual story which is really exciting for me. It’s literally about us going there and trying to make more winning plays on the day.”

The Eagles played Bristol Flyers on their home court a couple of weeks ago and came out on the wrong end of 98 – 94 loss, so there’s no doubting that Bristol are tough to beat at home, but both teams have away form that is not as impressive.

“Our away record domestically is something for sure that we want to improve upon”, Steutel admitted.

”We’ve definitely had a few challenging away games. Surrey, Cheshire and Bristol all recently and we definitely want to improve on those away games, away performance, away results. Bristol are probably the same.

“Home domestically we’ve done a really solid job which is exciting. I don’t think that plays a factor into these situations though. I think it’s about who’s going to make more winning plays on the day, who can adjust to everything and the style of game.

“You look at historically the numbers and statistics of teams that have won there. The games have stereotypically not been particularly high scoring games and haven’t been high percentage shooting games. There has been a lot of defensive doggedness and defensive toughness.

“I guess achieving the defensive scout is something we’ve spoken a lot about. We’ve shown at home, away in Europe wherever it might be that when defending the right way we’re a heck of a basketball team.

“I think for me it’s about trying to get that right balance, the right line-ups on the floor, the right synergy with our groups and defend the right way. If we do that then that will put us in a good spot.”

For Newcastle this could be a 28th domestic national title, whilst Bristol are still looking for their first.

The Eagles and GB Men’s coach added “The people who are long standing with our club do understand that, but Coach Kapoulas has obviously been at Bristol many years and helped them ascend through the ranks of British basketball.

“Andreas is somebody I have massive respect for and someone I work closely with on the national team.

“That’s an interesting kind of side story I suppose And I know they’ve been in two finals before and fell short on both of those occasions. I’m sure they and he fell like it’s their time. On the flipside of that we’re going for number 28.

“There’s one member of our group in Darius that’s going for that number 28, but the rest of us are just trying to make sure we win the game in it’s entirety.

“I’m sure Bristol, with moving out of their current facility to a new arena on the horizon, will feel this is a fitting part to their story. I don’t if I’m honest care about that side of it. I’ve got to control my team, our guys.

“We spoke a lot about the heritage of our club. What our club is, what our club means, what our club has done. I have a group that is really new here and I also felt really fortunate that I’ve been able to retain some players from last season.

“That’s the first time I’ve been able to do that in my three years here, as well as adding in what I feel are really exciting players and good people. I think for us it’s about understanding the opportunity that we have.

“In professional sport there’s going to be 50% of the people there on the day elated and 50% are going to be devasted. That’s professional sport and the exciting things about it. If we control every part of it we can I’m sure we can be successful on the day.”

In a twist of fate, the Eagles and the Flyers were originally schedule to play a league tie against each other in Newcastle this week, so the postponement of that fixture has given the teams a full week of preparation for Sunday’s big game.

“In some sense I wish we had a final every week as practice has been at an exceptionally high level”, Steutel added.

”That makes me happy on one hand and frustrated on another. I believe we should be practising at this level consistently no matter what the schedule is saying.”

“I think the guys have enjoyed the level of practice we’ve had this week. It’s been positive. They’ve really bought into how we think we can be successful against Bristol. I give them headline information and I can hear them communicating on a lower level about some of the detail underneath that.”

“That really excites me. Teams where the players are actively contributing to the direction of where the team’s going in they are usually the higher performing teams. It’s been a really productive a really purposeful week and we want to make sure that continues and we take that momentum into Sunday.”

Over 400 Eagles fans will be at the Utilita Arena Birmingham supporting Coach Steutel and his team. It’s the first time that Newcastle have been in a final with crowds in attendance since they last won the 2020 Trophy before the COVID-19 lockdown curtailed that season, winning the Cup and Playoffs behind closed doors the following year.

“It means more than they probably understand. I’ve had some difficult moments in my journey here and some high moments”, the 40-year-old coach concluded.

“I believe I’m somebody that doesn’t leave any stone unturned. I work diligently. I work harder than I believe most do.

“A lot of the responsibility for that is because of the fans. We’ve seen them up in Caledonia, down in Leicester. We’ve seen them all over getting behind us and no matter what the circumstances or situation or the outcome at times.

“If we play hard and the right way it doesn’t always guarantee winning in this league but if we do that I think the fans appreciate that. I love my job. I love coaching I love working with people. I love my job even more that I get to represent my hometown and my city.

“I’m saying that as someone that’s not from Newcastle but I feel fully embraced by the city. My message to the fans is I’m beyond appreciative of who they are, what they do, how they do it and how they support us.

“I know we’ve three coaches of fans going down which is great for a long old journey on a Sunday with a really early start. It means everything to us, everything.

“We had guys that have played in different parts of the world who get here and are blown away by the level of support that we have. I’m stood in the Vertu Motors Arena now and this place is a fortress at times and it really does give us that edge.

“I’m asking them to hopefully bring that level of noise, that level of atmosphere, environment to the game on Sunday. I guarantee and mark my words we are doing everything in our power to make sure we bring that Trophy back to Newcastle.”

We’ll see if the team can convert Coach Steutel’s words and thoughts into a 28th national title this Sunday, for those not travelling the game is free to watch live on DAZN and YouTube.