Jason Saab

[madmax]

Do you watch our games? He’s all at sea, unless he’s running in a straight line.

Seems to either be carrying injury or has lost confidence in his ability. Not sure what’s going on with him this year

 

[Under the Sticks]

If anyone wants proof of how the team has settled for mediocrity then I present Exhibit A in the attached photo article from my favourite effort player.

Hate to tell you Jason but there are about 18,000 paid up members who expect you to make the finals.

 

[XV-1]

Why don't our halves kick for Saab in the in goal, rather than always 5m out?
Saab is 6 ft 6. He can leap higher than any player with the exception of Coates.

Melbourne do it all the time to Coates and he scores plenty of tries from it.

It would seem this is a Spoonbold coaching decision to kick just in front so we don’t give away 7 tackles, as we can't tackle.
Totally negative and typical Spoony coaching.
Certainly not playing to our weapons.

 

[double hoops]

Why don't our halves kick for Saab in the in goal, rather than always 5m out?
Saab is 6 ft 6. He can leap higher than any player with the exception of Coates.

Melbourne do it all the time to Coates and he scores plenty of tries from it.

It would seem this is a Spoonbold coaching decision to kick just in front so we don’t give away 7 tackles, as we can't tackle.
Totally negative and typical Spoony coaching.
Certainly not playing to our weapons.

I think DCE just sucks at landing the ball on a dime.

In the Barrett era DCE constantly landed bombs 10 metres off the try line give or take. When I watched a game live, during the warm up he practiced landing em 10 out without much consistency.

Different coach.

Similar sub par play that's over the years creeped 5 meters closer. But it's either the same, I know boats Turtle. Or its the same story of a coache that know his half can't land it consistently.

And Saab has had just as many sail over his head as sail short.

 

[XV-1]

I think DCE just sucks at land the ball.

In the Barrett era DCE constantly landed bombs 10 metres off the try line give or take. When I watched a game live, during the warm up he practiced landing em 10 out without much consistency.

Different coach.

Similar sub par play that's creeped 5 meters closer. But it's either the same, I know boats Turtle. Or coaches that know he can't land it consistently.

Brooks kicks the exact same crappy kicks 5m out as well thou.

 

[Under the Sticks]

And if our players weren’t so dumb they would exploit the rule that no one can tackle the ball catcher.

But no we have both dumb kickers and (non) catchers.

 

[LeonardCohen]

Why don't our halves kick for Saab in the in goal, rather than always 5m out?
Saab is 6 ft 6. He can leap higher than any player with the exception of Coates.

Melbourne do it all the time to Coates and he scores plenty of tries from it.

It would seem this is a Spoonbold coaching decision to kick just in front so we don’t give away 7 tackles, as we can't tackle.
Totally negative and typical Spoony coaching.
Certainly not playing to our weapons.

He probably got sick of seeing Saab drop the ball and gave up on the tactic.

Saab can jump but that’s where the comparison with the likes of Coates and Tupou finishes. They bring down and/or tap on for multiple tries a season; Saab might land one or two a year.

 

[silver]

Seems to either be carrying injury or has lost confidence in his ability. Not sure what’s going on with him this year

Did he ever have ability apart from being very fast? Can't defend, doesn't jump for a ball, cant break a tackle...

 

[CRPSI eagle]

SAAB is a massive flop and offers nothing but his pace.
Whilst we have SAAB and Garrick as our stars we are pushing crap up hill, made this statement two years ago and my option will remain the same in two years time.

 

[DieHardManlyFan]

Don’t get me wrong I do agree he has played sh*t this season but I don’t think not having Haumole or DCE there all season along with having Garrick or Tom attacking on the left has helped. I’d personally let him play reserves for the rest of the year to build up his confidence and increase his hunger for game one next year.

 

[HK_Eagle]

Saab’s problem is his heart and lack of self-belief. He’s like a kid that was born with gifts but can’t get his head around being in the spotlight and owning them. I don’t see it ever changing, TBH.

 

[Eagle 1]

Seems to either be carrying injury or has lost confidence in his ability. Not sure what’s going on with him this year

Misses the Turbo of old going berserk and seting him up once Turbo has smashed through the line.

 

[bob dylan]

Why don't our halves kick for Saab in the in goal, rather than always 5m out?
Saab is 6 ft 6. He can leap higher than any player with the exception of Coates.

Our halves rarely miss a game, which normally would be great.

However they have been clearly the worst pairing in the NRL over the past 5 months were we have won just 6 of our last 16 matches.

 

[jbb/james]

I think DCE just sucks at landing the ball on a dime.

In the Barrett era DCE constantly landed bombs 10 metres off the try line give or take. When I watched a game live, during the warm up he practiced landing em 10 out without much consistency.

Different coach.

Similar sub par play that's over the years creeped 5 meters closer. But it's either the same, I know boats Turtle. Or its the same story of a coache that know his half can't land it consistently.

And Saab has had just as many sail over his head as sail short.

Agree. He has oku out there as well, pretty good under the high ball as well

Been like it for years.

Happy gilmour for sure
Great kick, **** short kicking game

Some will say its a tactic and while that tactic exists, you need more than 1 tactic to be a top half, even a ok half

And what about the death kick to the winger from our own half. Generally its on , but again kick too short for players to stretch past the defence. Invariably they catch and get smothered when grass was in front

And now we have brooks he does less kicking on the left, but that kick always curled inswing too far back as well

But he has really nice follow through

 

[Ron E. Gibbs]

Saab’s problem is his heart and lack of self-belief. He’s like a kid that was born with gifts but can’t get his head around being in the spotlight and owning them. I don’t see it ever changing, TBH.

Really, I think his problem is that he's just not a footy player. He's a runner, and a very good one, but he has zero feel for the game of rugby league.

 

[Rocky]

I've oscillated over the years from Saab could be an elite NRL winger, to he should be in Reggie's.

For me he epitomizes the flat track bully in the Manly team. It's all good and well when things are humming and he scores three tries in a Manly romp at home.

But when it's a close game and we need zero errors and strong carries, he can not be relied on. It's why I'd rather the more dependable Talau in the team instead.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

But when it's a close game and we need zero errors and strong carries, he can not be relied on. It's why I'd rather the more dependable Talau in the team instead.

His carries have improved a lot, but wish his hands had more glue.
Fact is rugby league (and union for that matter) could accommodate players of all shapes and sizes.
But in modern NRL that's no longer the case.
Saab is an outlier physically, so we get the special talent but there's also a down side.
Best wingers currently are very physically robust, and deadly in the air. Saab is good in the air... but only sometimes

 

[manly al]

Pretty sure that this is Saab"s 6 th season with Manly now and still would contend more good on balance then not
Injury issues certainly not helping the past couple of seasons but quite a few other team problems and not his making , no doubt restricting his opportunities to show his best value .
Started to improve his hit up plays and defensive reads in general last year or so , not in the elite category but most N R L wingers aren 't so don 't think that this metric should reflect that negatively on him
Club were of the opinion that he was worth keeping until 29 i think in his recent contract extension and of course a few disappointments form wise the past couple of seasons but no worse then a fair portion of the side also in general and still seems a net benefit with that extended deal

 

[Rocky]

His carries have improved a lot, but wish his hands had more glue.
Fact is rugby league (and union for that matter) could accommodate players of all shapes and sizes.
But in modern NRL that's no longer the case.
Saab is an outlier physically, so we get the special talent but there's also a down side.
Best wingers currently are very physically robust, and deadly in the air. Saab is good in the air... but only sometimes

The thing I liked about Saab was that he seemed to committed to getting better and working on his weaknesses. As you point out his carries early in a set have Improved dramatically, but that was off a very low base.

However this year he hasn't gotten better and as others have pointed out he may be carrying injuries.

 

[bigd1972]

Did he ever have ability apart from being very fast? Can't defend, doesn't jump for a ball, cant break a tackle...

You forgot he cannot catch either - not very safe under the high ball and drops a lot of a passes on potential line breaks