CHARLES Nix coaches the South West Slammers against his old Perry Lakes Hawks team for the first time in the Men's SBL on Saturday night in just one of nine Week 8 match ups.

The Week 8 action begins on Friday night with the Perth Redbacks taking on the Rockingham Flames at Belmont Oasis and the Stirling Senators playing the Joondalup Wolves at Warwick Stadium.

Then on Saturday night, the Geraldton Buccaneers play the Lakeside Lightning at Active West Stadium, the East Perth Eagles take on the Mandurah Magic at Mandurah Sport and Recreation Centre and the South West Slammers host the Perry Lakes Hawks at Eaton Recreation Centre.

The Cockburn Cougars also take on the Willetton Tigers at Wally Hagan Stadium and the Rockingham Flames host the Goldfields Giants at Mike Barnett Sports Complex.

Lastly on Sunday, the Cockburn Cougars play the Goldfields Giants at Wally Hagan Stadium and the Kalamunda Eastern Suns take on the South West Slammers at Ray Owen Sports Centre.

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Starting on Friday night, the Redbacks will play with Michael Vigor as their inside presence for the first time this season following the conclusion of his British Basketball League campaign.

The Redbacks have started the season in tremendous fashion without him sitting on a 7-2 record at present having lost at home to the Perry Lakes Hawks last Friday night, but bouncing back to beat the Cougars on Saturday with Shawn Redhage on fire.

Now with Vigor further strengthening Perth's line-up, it presents a sizeable task for the Flames who currently hold a 2-6 record having lost four straight.

The other Friday night game shapes as a cracker with the Senators hosting the Wolves.

Stirling is on a three-game winning run following victories over Willetton, Perry Lakes and Goldfields to see the Senators sit on a 5-3 record despite yet to play with import big man Drew Naymick.

Having beaten the Tigers and Hawks in recent weeks, they can take another scalp against the Wolves who will be without released import Richard Ross.

But the Wolfpack are again looking good in 2017 sitting on a 6-1 record having won their past three games since their only loss of the season at the hands of East Perth.

On Saturday night, the Buccaneers remain home to host the Lightning.

Geraldton will be looking to improve on its league-leading 7-1 record while the Lightning are coming off an important win last week over East Perth to stop their losing slide and improve them to a 4-5 record.

Then at Eaton Recreation Centre, the Slammers will be taking on the Hawks with new South West coach Nix taking on his old team Perry Lakes for the first time.

The Slammers need the win as well currently sitting at 2-5 after just falling short of what would have been a remarkable comeback last Sunday on the road to Willetton.

Nix is looking forward to taking on his former team for the first time.

"I'm really excited to have a crack at Perry Lakes. Obviously I have a great relationship with most of the people within that organisation," Nix said.

"I'm excited because of that, but I get excited on every game day. For me it's just another team and we have to look at it that way. It's also a team ahead of us so we need to start pegging some wins away from the teams that are on top of us."

Perry Lakes, meanwhile, bounced back impressively to beat the Perth Redbacks after disappointing losses the previous weekend against the Buccaneers and Senators.

Hawks coach Matt Parsons is looking forward to the trip to Bunbury and to see how his players handle the occasion up against their former coach.

"To be 4-4 at this stage of the season heading down to Bunbury, I'm happy. I'd love to be 8-0 but that's not realistic in anyone's mind and no one is undefeated this year. I'm pleased with the way we responded to beat Perth and I look forward to a big game against Bunbury," Parsons said.

"Some people always want to prove a point against a former coach, some people want to have that good competition against someone they have that connection with, and some of our players obviously know his system well. Charles is going to have himself up and about for it too.

"He is playing against his old team and he's going to have a point to prove. I've done that, I had to go back to Cockburn and coach against them. It's an emotionally draining experience and it takes a lot of concentration just to stay involved in the game, but it's going to be a great challenge for him and for us.

"We come across a really dominant point guard in Tre Nichols, Brian Voelkel is back in and putting up some serious numbers and we have another big job to do. It's not beyond us and right now our away record is better than our home record so there's a little bit of confidence behind us going away to get the win."

East Perth hosts Mandurah also on Saturday night with the Eagles looking to bounce back from a surprise loss to Lakeside last weekend to improve on their 5-4 record.

The Magic are still looking to breakthrough for their first win of 2017.

The Cougars and Tigers meet for the second time already of 2017 with the earlier meeting still sure to be fresh in the minds of both clubs.

Back in Week 2, the Cougars went to Willetton Basketball Stadium and came away with an 89-81 victory on the back of 39 points and 15 rebounds from Jalen Billups.

But the Tigers were without Ray Turner and Billups might find it significantly more of a challenge up against him this time around.

The Cougars come into the clash on a 5-4 record while the Tigers are 8-2 in a battle of two of last year's semi finalists.

The last game of Saturday night then sees Rockingham back up its clash with Perth on Friday by hosting the Giants who begin their road double-header on a 1-7 record and a four-game losing run.

It's a short turnaround for both the Cougars and Giants who then lock horns at midday on Sunday at Wally Hagan Stadium.

The other Sunday contest sees the Eastern Suns make their only appearance of the weekend taking on the Slammers.

Kalamunda started the season with five losses before winning three straight and now having lost its last three heading into the clash with the Slammers who would have played the Hawks at home the previous night.

WEEK 8 MEN'S SBL FIXTURES
FRIDAY
Perth Redbacks v Rockingham Flames – Belmont Oasis 8.30pm
Stirling Senators v Joondalup Wolves – Warwick Stadium 8.30pm

SATURDAY
Geraldton Buccaneers v Lakeside Lightning – Active West Stadium 8pm
South West Slammers v Perry Lakes Hawks – Eaton Recreation Centre 8pm
East Perth Eagles v Mandurah Magic – Morley Sport and Recreation Centre 8pm
Cockburn Cougars v Willetton Tigers – Wally Hagan Stadium 8pm
Rockingham Flames v Goldfields Giants – Mike Barnett Sports Complex 8.30pm

SUNDAY
Cockburn Cougars v Goldfields Giants – Wally Hagan Stadium 12pm
Kalamunda Eastern Suns v South West Slammers – Ray Owen Sports Centre 2pm

Photo by Ashley Pearce