THERE are eight matches in Week 3 of the Men's SBL but the headline act is the defending champion Cockburn Cougars hosting former coach Matt Parsons and his Perry Lakes Hawks on Friday night.

It looks a tremendous round of action in the Men's SBL starting on Friday night with the Lakeside Lightning taking on the Kalamunda Eastern Suns at Lakeside Recreation Centre and the Cockburn Cougars facing the Perry Lakes Hawks at Wally Hagan Stadium.

Then on Saturday night, the Geraldton Buccaneers will be hosting the Willetton Tigers at Active West Stadium and the Goldfields Giants also play host to the Mandurah Magic at Neils Hansen Basketball Stadium.

The South West Slammers play the East Perth Eagles at Eaton Recreation Centre, the Joondalup Wolves take on the Rockingham Flames at Joondalup Basketball Stadium, the Stirling Senators face the Cockburn Cougars at Warwick Stadium and the Kalamunda Eastern Suns host the Perth Redbacks at Ray Owen Sports Centre.

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All games over the weekend have an air of intrigue, but the Cougars hosting the Hawks is going to provide a memorable and potentially emotional moment or two.

New Perry Lakes coach Parsons did a tremendous job the past two years with the Cougars culminating in last season's championship and back-to-back Coach of the Year honours.

However, he is now in charge of the Hawks and has a couple of Cougars championship winners with him in Travis Hayto and Luke Wilson.

The Cougars have a new coach with former player Adam Nener taking the helm. While they have lost Parsons, Hayto and Wilson along with Marcus Goode, Najee Lane, Julian Pesava and Sheldon McIntyre from that championship team, there remains plenty of familiar faces.

To cap off the occasion it will be Cockburn's first home game of the season following a tight loss to the Wolves and a strong win over the Tigers.

That means the Cougars will be unfurling their championship banner. It's only fitting that Parsons will be there for it given the work he put in to win the title with Cockburn.

It will be quite the occasion. While Nener as new coach doesn’t have a great connection to that championship success of last year, he has no doubt it's going to be a big occasion for plenty in the building on Friday.

"For me the team won last year and they will always have that connection as coaches and players, and you never lose that and you never want to," Nener said.

"It might be strange for some of them to play against their championship coach, but I'm sure once all the formalities are out of the way and the ball is tossed up it will just be a normal game."

Parsons will always be proud of the success he achieved and brought to the Cougars in his two years.

He is glad that he will be there to see the championship banner raised as well. But once the ball is tipped off, it's all business for him too.

"Everywhere you go in your career and most players in this league touch base with a couple of clubs throughout their careers, and coaches see a couple of different destinations, and every time you go back to a club you've been involved with it's something special," Parsons said.

"Going back to Cockburn after what we've achieved, we get to go there and there will be the banner celebrations so that excites me.

"I'm really proud of that achievement so I'm looking forward to being able to go, but at the same time we will be there as Perry Lakes to do a job and to knock them off on their happy day. That's how it is."

Nener has been happy with what the Cougars have shown over the first two weeks against two teams who made the semi finals last year as he prepares them for the Hawks on Friday.

"We've had a tough draw to start but you have to play every team on the road so it's good to get some tough ones out of the way," Nener said.

"We've said from the start we're looking forward to the challenge and to go 1-1 in the first two games against Wanneroo and Willetton, I'll take that any day.

"We are looking are forward to the challenge now this week and even though we've only had one full session before an easy one on Thursday before playing Friday, but you've got to do what you've got to do."

The rest of the round is full of intrigue as well.

The Suns will be looking to get their first win of the season starting on Friday away to the Lightning and then on Saturday at home to Shawn Redhage, Alex Loughton and the Redbacks.

The Buccs and Tigers were both semi finalists from last year and looking to be contenders again this year leading to a terrific battle in Geraldton. All eyes are on Willetton looking to stay afloat until the return of Ray Turner.

The Giants and Magic clash in Kalgoorlie with both desperate for their first wins of the season under new coaches Lou Causer and Aaron Trahair.

Mandurah will likely unveil new import guard Will McNeill who was running the Magic's offence at practice on Thursday night.

The Wolves and Flames then do battle as well at Joondalup while the Cougars have to back up their emotional night on Friday by taking on the Senators at Warwick.

WEEK 3 MEN'S SBL FIXTURES
FRIDAY
Lakeside Lightning v Kalamunda Eastern Suns – Lakeside Recreation Centre 8.30pm
Cockburn Cougars v Perry Lakes Hawks – Wally Hagan Stadium 8.30pm

SATURDAY
Geraldton Buccaneers v Willetton Tigers – Active West Stadium 7.30pm
Goldfields Giants v Mandurah Magic – Neils Hansen Basketball Stadium 7.30pm
South West Slammers v East Perth Eagles – Eaton Recreation Centre 8pm
Joondalup Wolves v Rockingham Flames – Joondalup Basketball Stadium 8pm
Stirling Senators v Cockburn Cougars – Warwick Stadium 8pm
Kalamunda Eastern Suns v Perth Redbacks – Ray Owen Sports Centre 8.30pm