HARD working and fighting qualities is what Michael Clarke is instilling in his Kalamunda Eastern Suns players and that's why he took heart from their second half effort against the Perth Redbacks as they continue to chase that first win of 2017.

The Eastern Suns might have lost their opening five games of the 2017 season, but three of those have seen them without Courtney Belger and all five without second import Rob Brandenberg.

There's little question that with the group of emerging local talent that Clarke has to work with combined with two firing imports with the credentials of Belger and Brandenberg could make some impact on the SBL season in 2017.

Week 3 Saturday night Men's SBL results 

The fact that they were going to be down on manpower early in the season is something that Clarke knew would likely lead to some potential early pain.

But last weekend they could have snatched the win over the Lakeside Lightning on Friday night and then Clarke had some reason for concern at half-time on Saturday down by 25 against the Shawn Redhage, Alex Loughton inspired Perth Redbacks.

A 40 or 50-point defeat could have brought back some memories of dark days of old and dented the confidence of the Suns players irreversibly so Clarke was understandably hoping to see a big improvement in the second half.

It wasn’t easy against such a deep and talented roster like the Redbacks, but Kalamunda played likely its best half of the season to date to outscore Perth by eight points.

While the losing margin of 17 points might not have looked great, to see the fight and heart shown by the Eastern Suns is something that Clarke can now definitely build on moving forward.

Clarke definitely felt like that second half performance gave his team some confidence that he hopes they can take into this weekend's double-header in Mandurah against the Magic on Friday and at home to the Giants on Saturday.

"I think they are pretty pumped now for this week and there's enough good signs from what we did last weekend for us to hit the training track this week, tweak a few things and get ready for these two games. I'm excited by the prospect of seeing it all click at some point and what it's capable of producing," Clarke said.

"This weekend showed better signs for us and better patches of our style of play. The new guys are coming along a bit better with what we want them to do and part of that probably was the injection of having Courtney back and Kerrod (Horn) back on Friday night. I think you've just got to look for the silver lining and we are used to it being tough and we just push on, and keep trying to get better."

Clarke always expected the early weeks of the season to be difficult awaiting the arrival firstly of Belger who played well in both games last weekend and while still waiting for Brandenberg to complete his commitments in Europe.

But he hopes that his group understands now from last week that as long as they continue to fight, good things can happen.

"It was always going to be tough for us early on, there was no doubt about that. It would have been nice to pinch a couple early, but the reality is that we were always going to find ourselves in a situation like this," he said.

"But it's not about how you start, it's about how you finish and we've got an eye on what we want to achieve his season. That's still well within our grasp if we keep getting better and build on the momentum we are slowly creating."

Belger made an immediate impact on return for the Eastern Suns last weekend with 17 points and 11 rebounds on Friday night against the Lightning, and then 20 points against the Redbacks on Saturday.

Clarke can't speak highly enough of what he brings to his group.

"Courtney's fantastic and he is so professional with everything he does. He really leads by example and he is fantastic for us," Clarke said.

"To think we'll get another person of that ilk in weeks to come, that's really going to take us to a whole nother level as well as one of our tall college kids coming back to give us that bit of extra height in the centre spot. I think the signs are good in that regard."

Clarke also is looking forward to seeing how good his group can perform once Brandenberg arrives, but he's still unsure just when that will be.

"I want Rob to come over and see what it's like down here and to like it enough to maybe even come back next year and be here for longer," he said.

"It's important for us to show him what he can do for us and he'll be every bit as good as Courtney I'm sure. It's hard to know when he'll be here because it depends on his playoff run, but I'm hoping we will have him within weeks."

With the likes of Ryan Blanchett, Tim Squire and Billy Grey continuing to improve and with what Belger and Brandenberg can deliver, Clarke is also impressed with what Brighton Pass, Jamieson Lewis and Theron Pinker are providing to the Eastern Suns early in the 2017 season.

"I like the guys we've brought across his year. Brighton Pass, Jamieson Lewis and Theron Pinker. They are guys we've identified from the local area who have untapped potential and they are already starting to show signs of that," he said.

"Those guys have bought into what we're doing and while it takes some time to really execute it because it's a different system, but I've been really happy with the way those guys have come along."

Photo by Erin Tuckey