After a successful 2024 representative season including a division one Western Junior League (WJL) title, the future is looking even brighter for the Orange Eagles’ junior basketball outfits next year.

The Orange District Basketball Association (ODBA) representative sides the Eagles will field 12 teams in the WJL competitions, which kick off in February 2025.

Orange will field division one and division two boys sides in under-14s, 16s and 18s, as well as a division one side in the under-12s.

Across the female space, Orange has both division one and division two sides in the under-12s, along with division one sides in under-14s, 16s and 18s.

This comes off the back of a productive 2024 where the Eagles won division one of the WJL under-12s boys category.

That side won its 12 regular season matches before defeating Bathurst Goldminers 64-42 in the final at Griffith in May. They then competed at the Basketball NSW State Cup in August.

“The under-12s Eagles played some of their best basketball at the State Cup; they didn’t make it to the finals but they got some valuable experience up against the huge metro clubs,” coach Mitch Brakenridge said.

“We will be working hard this season to have a strong WJL campaign and get back to the State Cup and give it another go.”

The Eagles try to field two sides (if possible) in the age categories. Where it can be achieved, Eagles Black play in division one and Eagles White, development sides, line-up in division two of the WJL.

This year, Orange’s under-12 girls won the WJL division two title, defeating Narrandera 57-37 at Griffith.

Other Orange sides that made grand finals in 2024 to finish runners-up include under-12s, under-14s and under-18s Eagles White division two sides.

Following this, almost 200 players trialled for selection for the Orange Eagles’ sides for 2025, with only 120 starting squad spots available.

Each of the 12 squads is allowed 10 players. Shadows can also be named.

Trials throughout September were overseen by ODBA team and coach director Paul Masters, who has an incredible depth of experience in representative basketball.

“The Orange Eagles 2025 rep trials have been one of our most successful to date. We have almost 200 young athletes trials and I have to say it was one of the most competitive trials we have had at the Eagles.” Orange District Basketball Association (ODBA) president Jeremy Frew said.

“This year we made a special effort to ensure all the athletes got a really good chance to show their skills and push for selection.

“After three open trial sessions we selected squads and those squads have been playing competition games for the last three weeks, we will be naming final teams in the coming days.

“Because of the huge participation in local basketball we want to make sure players who don’t make selection can stay connected with rep pathways.

“We have started a pilot Eagles Futures program designed to keep future rep players connected with training and development. It’s the brainchild of our passionate Eagles coaching coordinator Paul Masters.”

Masters said the Eagles Futures program is designed to keep enthusiastic athletes who don’t make an Orange junior representative squad connected to regular training so they can aim for higher honours in the future.

“The plan is for our Eagles Futures pilot program to grow year-on-year and keep our pathways full of potential Eagles for years to come,” Masters said.