How the Eagles have soared above the rest

• Forestville Eagles men and women both finished the NBL1 Central season on top of the ladder
• Adam Doyle and the Eagles men won the championship last season
• They have since added NBL star Dejan Vasiljevic and former NBL forward Alex Starling to their team

Forestville Eagles are the lone NBL1 club around the country with both teams finishing in top spots with Central championship winning men's captain Adam Doyle hoping to celebrate another title as a new father.

With both their women and men finishing the regular season in top spot, the Eagles have earned a break in the first week of the finals and the title of championship favourites.

After an interrupted preparation, the Eagles women pulled things together to finish at 15-3 with Sam Simons, Maddy Freer, Jess Simons, Rachel King and Ella Sawyer showing the way under coach Toby Schaftenaar.

Then there's the defending champion men featuring DJ Vasiljevic, Daniel Johnson, Greg Mays and Alex Starling.

Both Forestville teams made grand finals last year, are on track to be back there this year at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre and men's captain Doyle is proud to be part of the culture built.

"It definitely is always good to have both teams being strong and for us both to be going into the finals from top spot is something that doesn’t happen too often," Doyle told basketball.com.au.

"The women probably had a bit of a rougher start with getting a new coach probably only six weeks before the season and missing players at their trainings, and struggling to have a team out on the floor.

"But I think the coach Toby has done a good job of pulling their team together and getting them all gelling and what not. I think there's five girls in that team who played together as juniors so that always helps so they are clicking well now.

"For us, we've always prided ourselves on being a team that's always going to be competitive and up there, and each year we've done that.

"We've got the right pieces to the puzzle and we've pulled it together pretty good and are happy with where we finished.

"That's the first goal to finish top and now you have to just win that first final to make the grand final so as a club we are happy with the season has gone so far."

Pulling together for one cause

If you look at the NBL1 South and it's the Knox Raiders closest to fitting the bill with their women finishing second with 11 straight wins and the men a game clear in top spot.

In the North, there's still a round to go but top women's teams the Logan Thunder and Southern Districts Spartans aren’t near the top in the men.

The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles finished clear in the East women but only seventh in the men, and with two weeks left in the West the Cockburn Cougars women are safe on top but their men are out of contention.

With the Forestville men, you could understand if anyone with the individual talents of Vasiljevic, Johnson, Mays or Starling at any point wanted to just cut loose and chase that 59-point single game NBL1 record held now by Elijah Pepper from the Warwick Senators.

What Doyle is most impressed by with that talented group pulled together by coach Andrew Simons is that winning matters above everything else.

"There's one thing to put together a team like that and I'm not going to lie, it's a pretty solid team when you look at it on paper and think how the hell did it happen," he said.

"But I just put it down to the culture that we have at Forestville and a lot of people actually want to come play for us. I also just think our coach is good at treating everyone the same and he doesn’t care who you are.

"He demands everyone buys into our system and we have guys who are leaders where if someone doesn’t buy in, then you won't fit into our squad and we'll hold everyone accountable.

"I also think the five that we have that start, we're all either still pros or have been, and we know what we want to do, and that we want to win.

"I just think we do whatever it takes to win and you look at our stats throughout the whole year, and there's not really anyone going for 40 every night or anything like that.

"There's obviously three dominant guys, but you look at our scores through the whole thing, and it's pretty even across our team. I think that's what makes us tough and it's one thing getting those type of players, but we've done a good job of bringing everyone together."

Connection with DJ

There are two DJ's on this Forestville team but to avoid confusion Johnson largely goes by the 'Saucy' nickname inside the club and then you have Vasiljevic who might simply go by DJ or 3J or DJV, depending on the occasion.

More importantly, for Doyle as much as he loves all his Eagles teammates, it's Johnson who he has now been good friends with since he first started as a training player at the Adelaide 36ers almost 13 years ago.

He would go on to be NBL teammates with Johnson at the Sixers firstly as a development player and then full roster member after that up until the end of NBL19, and have both remained close friends since.

They desperately wanted to win a championship together and achieved that last year and now want more of it over the next few weeks.

"I love playing with DJ and we've been friends all the way back to when I first came into the Sixers and that was back around 2012," Doyle said.

"He's been there since then and we've stayed good mates all the way through, and it's good to continue to play with him and it's fun.

"We always wanted to get that championship together and to get him to come back to Forestville was always a goal of ours. Then last year when we got one, it was good to finally get that championship with him.

"We'd now love to get another one and that's what our goal is, but it is about the friendships you make and when it's all said and done when we stop playing, he's a guy I'll stay friends with probably forever.

"It's the same with Teysy (Brendan Teys) with the three of us, who have all stayed close friends even if we're now in different states."

Now playing as a father

On the back of becoming a championship captain last year with Forestville, it's now been a year already in 2025 that Doyle will never forget with he and wife Sarah welcoming their first child, Harvey, into the world only 10 weeks ago.

Already Doyle can't think of much better than life as a dad and to have such a supportive wife and mother to Harvey to still allow him to commit to basketball while now also juggling full-time work.

"It definitely changes your life pretty instantly but it's obviously in the best sort of way. I've enjoyed being a dad so far and it's been really fun adjusting to all sorts of things," Doyle said.

"It does take some adjusting to now having to work in training and working, and then coming home and still being a dad and trying to do as much as we can as a family.

"My wife is obviously pretty understanding and let's me do what I need to do to be ready for a game, and get ready for games. She still lets me have my pre-game naps and that sort of thing, but I've loved everything about being a dad.

"He's also come out to a fair few games already which has been cool to see those two sitting there and watching."

Creating memories as a dad

Doyle can't help to think of what it would be like to also share a championship celebration with Harvey too even though he's certainly not getting too far ahead of himself.

But to have those memories with the photos for the rest of their lives would be special and a big factor in Doyle wanting to play as long as he can is for Harvey to start to understand what his dad has done on the basketball floor.

"It definitely would be great having him there and obviously he would have no idea what the hell is going on, but knowing that he's there and we'll be able to look back on that memory would be the coolest thing," he said.

"A bit of a reason why I want to keep playing as long as I can is that I want him to start getting old enough where he could be walking around and start to understand what's going on.

"It's always special to see him there and my wife there, and them two together, and hopefully we can make another grand final and tick it off that way to make a great year already even better."