COACHING up against your old side for the first time is never an easy task, but for Charles Nix and Matt Parsons they have had winning experiences in the first meetings against their former teams even though there was plenty of emotions involved.

Nix and Parsons both had strong and successful runs in their time coaching the Perry Lakes Hawks and Cockburn Cougars respectively, but it was time for a change for both at the end of 2016.

For Parsons, he departed the Cougars on the back of successive SBL Coach of the Year awards and taking Cockburn to the championship last year.

Nix then departed the Hawks having been in charge ever since replacing Shawn Dennis as coach midway through the 2013 season.

His departure opened the door for Parsons to take over as coach of Perry Lakes in 2017 and then Nix landed the job with the South West Slammers as the respective duo got settled in new surroundings.

Both had circled that first encounter against their former teams and they were always going to be intriguing nights both for the coach against his old team, and for the players who had such a good bond with them to play against them for the first time.

Parsons got to experience that first by taking the Hawks back to Wally Hagan Stadium in Week 3 and his team delivered a remarkable comeback to beat the Cougars on their home floor.

Then this past Saturday night, the Hawks made the trip to Eaton Recreation Centre for Nix's first opportunity to coach the Slammers up against his former team.

Like Parsons got to experience against Cockburn earlier in the season, Nix's Slammers got the job done against Perry Lakes recording the 82-69 victory ahead of also beating the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 98-80 on Sunday to improve to 4-5 on the season having won four of its last five games.

Nix just focused on the job at hand once the game was underway, but having been the head coach at the Hawks for three and-a-half seasons and been assistant under Dennis before he left for the Townsville Crocodiles in the NBL, it was not just another game.

He did feel some mixed emotions afterwards but will always look back fondly on his time at Perry Lakes, and was proud of his new team getting a hard-earned win.

"To be honest as soon as there was the tip, I was just in coaching mode and I saw opposition players against us. I was pretty fortunate that our scout was pretty good as you would expect after I spent so much time there," Nix said.

"At the end of the game it was quite emotional. I was really happy that we were on the right end of it and I have the utmost respect for that organisation. I loved my time there and I owe them a lot.

"I was very happy that we got the win and upset for the guys there I know well that they had to experience a loss, but it was more important for us to try and get back to an even record on the season."

Parsons, meanwhile, might not have enjoyed that loss on Saturday night quite as much, but looking back on his return to Cockburn as an opposition coach is a night he won't soon forget.

He took over as Cougars coach ahead of the 2015 season with expectations low for a team who had lost a large chunk of the 2012 championship team.

But he did a tremendous job to lead them to a fourth-place finish at the end of the regular season before a quarter-final exit at the hands of the Rockingham Flames.

Then in 2016, Parsons was able lure veterans Rhett Della and Dan Thomas to the Cougars and with Marcus Goode joining Najee Lane as imports, the end result was the championship and him earning a second straight Coach of the Year award.

But with his vision not quite matching up with that of the Cougars hierarchy, he decided it was time to move and he couldn't be happier to have landed at Perry Lakes to further his coaching career.

The first visit back to Cockburn was always going to be one to remember, though, and it just happened to be the night that the Cougars raised their championship banner.

The Cougars then opened a big lead early and were still up 16 midway through the third quarter. But Parsons' Hawks turned things around from there to end up winning 97-90.

It's a night that Parson's won't soon forget and was delighted to get the win in despite obviously having feelings for those he formed such a strong bond with at the Cougars.

"It was a very surreal moment going back to coach against Cockburn. I wouldn’t lie and say it wasn’t emotional to not only go there in general and play against your old team where you built so many relationships and friendships," Parsons said.

"That club has a big part of my heart and so do a lot of their players, but to go there on their banner night it was a very big honour that both clubs Perry Lakes and Cockburn lobbied for that night to be the one.

"That made it even more emotional as well. I'm pretty happy with my performance as a coach that night and with how the players responded for me."

Photo by Belinda Pike (Croc Photography)