The men’s side, coached by Ian Ozolins, will return to the Tigers Den after an opening round defeat to Sutherland two weeks ago.

But their home opener, from 6pm, won’t be a walk in the park, as they will battle the Wagga Wagga Heat – who have dropped their opening two encounters.

“Against Sutherland we actually played well for three quarters, but our second quarter, especially defensively, really let us down,” Ozolins said.

“As such, the past two weeks we have really emphasised defence, mixing up a couple of things and implementing a trap defence.

“We have also been practising quite extensively playing against a zone defence, because we know Wagga will change between man and a zone all contest.

“With a couple more options against a zone defence, we shouldn’t get bogged down, especially with the way the boys are sharing the ball.

“The final thing we’ve discussed is not over-penetrating on offence – against Sutherland, instead of pulling up for a mid-range jump shot, we drove all the way to the rack and allowed the defenders to disrupt our shots.”

At his disposal, Ozolins will have his three sons, William, Tom, Bruce, along with Tim Hanlon, Lachlan Crowe, Billy Campbell, Connor Rowe, Mathew Ganderton, Ben Morris, Kieran Corbin, Levi Dennison and Alex Brown – which is predominately the same core of last year’s finals side.

As such, the whole squad know the the importance of winning on your home court.

“Nobody wants to lose on their home court, let alone in their home opener,” Ozolins said.

“The only thing that’s good enough is a win and the boys know that.”

Prior to the men’s game tipping off, Ken Arthur’s women’s side will host the Wagga Wagga Blaze, from 4pm – in their first game of the 2018 campaign.

“Pre-season has gone well for this very new team, with only four girls returning from last year,” Arthur said.

“I know all our girls are looking forward to testing themselves against Wagga, who are notoriously an athletic and tough opponent.”

Arthur’s squad includes Kate Denyer, Carlin Day, Chiara Arthur, Sarah Bolt, Olivia Patterson, Chelsee Hogg, Lilly McDonald, Molly Brown and Mary-Jane O’Toole.

The third senior Tigers team, Scott Balsar’s youth league men, are on the road, playing Manly-Warringah from 2pm Saturday, at the Northern Beaches Indoor Sports Centre.