CORY Cooperwood might not play for the Stirling Senators this weekend but he has been excited by the team's start to the 2014 SBL season and sees no reason why they can't grow into being a genuine championship contender.

The Senators now sit in seventh position on the men's SBL standings with a 4-3 record having won their last two matches heading into a clash with the Perry Lakes Hawks at Warwick Leisure Centre this Saturday night.

Stirling is coming off a terrific win on Sunday over a Geraldton Buccaneers team who had been on an impressive winning run and that came 10 days after the Senators beat last year's grand finalists the Joondalup Wolves by seven points at Joondalup Basketball Stadium.

Cooperwood has again started the season strongly averaging 23.0 points, 9.3 rebounds and 5.2 assists a game while shooting 52.7 per cent from the field and 40.0 per cent from downtown.

He has received plenty of help, though, from the likes of Jordan Wild, Josh Throns, Austin Bruton and Cody Ellis fresh off his first season as a pro with the Sydney Kings in the NBL after completing his college career at Saint Louis University.

Cooperwood has been particularly impressed with the wins the last two weeks over two teams in the Buccaneers and Wolves expected to again be championship contenders.

"We are pretty excited about our start," Cooperwood said.

"We hit a couple of rough patches battling injuries and what not, but we have had two wins the past two weekends including a really big win against Geraldton even without me playing in the second half. We are rolling pretty good right now."

Ellis has now played four games this season with the Senators averaging 17.0 points and 10.5 rebounds, and Cooperwood has no doubt he will only continue to have more and more of an impact as the season rolls on.

"Cody brings a lot of things," he said.

"He brings a lot of energy, another rebounder and he's a guy who can guard multiple positions and can also shoot the ball to stretch the defence."

A calf strain will keep Cooperwood out of this Saturday night's clash at home to Perry Lakes, but he only expects to miss the one game with the complaint.

"I probably won't play this weekend because of the strain to my right calf muscle," Cooperwood said.

"I did it against the Kalamunda Suns too in the second half and it is a bit of a reoccurring injury that I'm getting fixed right now. Just to be on the safe side I might not play this weekend because it's still early on in the season."

Article by Chris Pike