Head coach Marc Steutel insisted a 117-67 loss to parent club Newcastle Eagles was no reflection of a positive pre-season for Team Northumbria.
The Division One champions and National Cup holders open their account in the National Trophy against derby rivals Team Newcastle on Saturday.
And Steutel is only taking positives from the Eagles’ performance after his players matched their top level rivals for three quarters of a competitive clash.
“We were playing against a top level BBL powerhouse so, despite the result, it shows me where we’re at now and it’ll be a good measuring point for us going into the new season,” he said.
“We’ve definitely had a positive pre-season overall with a lot of experienced players back from last year.
“The guys are working the way I want them to. They’re trying to create a team culture and a team environment and that’s even easier with returning players. Having that consistency is a big positive.”
Steutel and his side are coming back off what was a historic season as TN clinched the Division One title for the first time to claim a memorable double.
“We want to win every game this season,” Steutel continued.
“This time last year we didn’t sit there and think ‘we want to win the league’. But we did sit there and say ‘we want to win every game each week’.
“It’s the same mentality this season. We’re wanting to win every game we play but we’re not looking ahead to any game apart from the one right in front of us.
“So now our pre-season is over we’ll review it and we’ll be looking ahead to Saturday’s National Trophy game against Newcastle University. That’s a big game for us.
“Any competition we’re in we want to win - 100%. That’s our culture and that’s our programme. The Eagles set the bar in the BBL and we want to set the bar in all of our competitions.”
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