The roster is built, the waiting is over and the anticipation concludes this afternoon. Head Coach Marc Steutel’s 2026/27 Newcastle Eagles take to the court in London for their opening Super League Basketball (SLB) after a progressive and positive pre-season.
Three games at home as warm-ups two against fellow SLB sides Caledonia and Sheffield have seen Steutel’s new charges rack up three big wins to give them confidence heading into what will be a tough opening encounter.
Steutel is as always looking forward to the season ahead and seeing how his newly recruited team will fair now that competitive action is about to tip-off.
The Eagles have returned four of last season’s squad alongside seven newcomers. Josh Ward-Hibbert returns as captain alongside Mitch Clarke, Cole Long and Sauver Kande.
Tavis Smith, Blondeau Tchoukuiegno, Adam Hamilton and Jalen Shirley are new to the Eagles and the SLB, whilst Trevond Barnes, Kyle Carey and Cam Christon all have previous experience in the league.
“I’m really excited ahead of the first game of the season. It’s always an exciting time for players, staff, fans, and organisations. We feel the same,” said Steutel.
“To be able to build off a productive pre-season where we’ve tried to put as many positive days together and stack as many positives as we can and then try and get on to the next one.
“The opposition could hardly be tougher. London Lions swept the board domestically in 2025/26 winning all four National trophies.
“They have once again brought in quality players for this campaign as they look to continue that domination.
Steutel is well aware of the task for his team.
“We know that with the level of roster London have assembled and the level of pre-season they’ve had finishing with a win against EuroLeague opposition in Paris shows the level that they are competing at.”
A measure of the Eagles task is that London are already up and running in the SLB this season and have a road win to their name giving them great preparation for this afternoon’s game.
The Lions went to Bristol on Friday night and in a tight contest avoided an upset to take an 80 – 78 victory.
Newcastle’s head coach, added: “We understand the challenge ahead of us, but we’re excited to go and compete and test ourselves against the team that won it all last year and see where we are as a group and use that to build upon for the year regardless of what happens against them.
“We want to go and compete and be the best version. We want to try and win games on the road and win games at home, but we understand that London is a massive challenge for us.
“But the group have shown that we’re highly competitive. So, we want to go an be the best version of us. So hopefully each day we want to get better be the best version of what we can be and see where that takes us throughout the year.”
That win in a close-fought game that could have gone either way will no doubt have been scrutinised and digested by Steutel, his staff and his players as the Eagles attempt to get their SLB season off to a flying start.
