New Winger - Jason Saab

[The better Robbo]

That’s what was said about Hoppa!

just sayin!

Hoppa was a 16yr old kid when he last played and if he didn't have that surname he wouldn't have been thought of so highly. Hoppa will be good but I could never really see superstar potential on him. He is slow for an outside back, short and doesn't really have a passing game. I think he was more living off his surname than anything else. Don't get me wrong, he will be a solid 1st grader in a year or 2 but that's about it. Saab has a lot more upside. He is lightning quick, awesome under the high ball and is at an age where he is ready to shine

 

[KNUCKLES]

Jason Saab on 9 news shortly.......desperately wants out of Dragons to stay close to family & said he wants to sign with ‘another’ club!!!! Griffin apparently playing hardball but the kid definitely wants out! Said it was almost done until Griffin was appointed coach hence the delay. I think it’ll be announced soon that he’s signing with Manly.

When all else fails get the media involved..

 

[KNUCKLES]

This may work!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1321721177744834560

That's fire!!!! Lmao tf

 

[Leho]

That's fire!!!! Lmao tf

He seems a bit strange. I went on to his Insta page and the first video I see is him dancing in his undies. Hahaha

 

[KNUCKLES]

He seems a bit strange. I went on to his Insta page and the video I see is him dancing in his undies. Hahaha

Deadset lol.. when I seen the interview the first thought that crossed my mind was what an absolute flog saying something like that. Probably a stand up guy just was a very strange thing to say

 

[Woodsie]

He seems a bit strange. I went on to his Insta page and the first video I see is him dancing in his undies. Hahaha

@Moondog ... are you the absentee sire .... ??

 

[Woodsie]

How does coming to Manly get him closer to his family ?

 

[Mataiforever]

Hoppa was a 16yr old kid when he last played and if he didn't have that surname he wouldn't have been thought of so highly. Hoppa will be good but I could never really see superstar potential on him. He is slow for an outside back, short and doesn't really have a passing game. I think he was more living off his surname than anything else. Don't get me wrong, he will be a solid 1st grader in a year or 2 but that's about it. Saab has a lot more upside. He is lightning quick, awesome under the high ball and is at an age where he is ready to shine

Unsure about never having superstar potential.

The kid played Schoolboys for both codes - that is freakish. He also played SCHOOLBOYS in YEAR 10. 2 years younger than the best players in the country for their age.

He had extreme pace and I still think it’s pretty foolish to write off a kid who has had so much hype and potential off 4-5 games.

Granted two ACLs is tough - players have gone through this tho. It definitely has contributed to his slower speed. However the kid hadn’t played a league game in over what, a year? And dived head first into some of the toughest rugby league matches you could have asked for, we were getting rolled over constantly, and late in the season the team + opposition were all match fit. He wasn’t at all.

He was pretty rubbish in his appearances but re what @ManlyTragic said about “thats what was said about hoppa”... its not like we took a punt of 500k for the sake of it and lost out... (like could happen with Suaali), we merely promoted a junior and threw him in the deep end. I doubt he had really any consistent speed / running training before he played.

My two cents, A Hoppa should not be a complete write off. Give him a preseason.

 

[ManlyTragic]

Hoppa was a 16yr old kid when he last played and if he didn't have that surname he wouldn't have been thought of so highly. Hoppa will be good but I could never really see superstar potential on him. He is slow for an outside back, short and doesn't really have a passing game. I think he was more living off his surname than anything else. Don't get me wrong, he will be a solid 1st grader in a year or 2 but that's about it. Saab has a lot more upside. He is lightning quick, awesome under the high ball and is at an age where he is ready to shine

One has played 5 NRL games The other has played 7.......on those stats I guess they both have potential/ upside....a lot of our players seem to be classified as “high potential “

 

[The better Robbo]

Unsure about never having superstar potential.

The kid played Schoolboys for both codes - that is freakish. He also played SCHOOLBOYS in YEAR 10. 2 years younger than the best players in the country for their age.

He had extreme pace and I still think it’s pretty foolish to write off a kid who has had so much hype and potential off 4-5 games.

Granted two ACLs is tough - players have gone through this tho. It definitely has contributed to his slower speed. However the kid hadn’t played a league game in over what, a year? And dived head first into some of the toughest rugby league matches you could have asked for, we were getting rolled over constantly, and late in the season the team + opposition were all match fit. He wasn’t at all.

He was pretty rubbish in his appearances but re what @ManlyTragic said about “thats what was said about hoppa”... its not like we took a punt of 500k for the sake of it and lost out... (like could happen with Suaali), we merely promoted a junior and threw him in the deep end. I doubt he had really any consistent speed / running training before he played.

My two cents, A Hoppa should not be a complete write off. Give him a preseason.

Hoppa never had extreme pace, he is average pace for an outside back and has never been an out n out speedster... You only have to watch his highlights to see how easily support caught up to him.

I have mates that played school boys in union and league and never even went on to play reserve grade let alone a star on the NRL so hard to gauge talent at school age.
My early observations (before his debut) was that he would be an ok winger but thats about it and I'll stand by that. I hope he proves me wrong but I am highly doubtful. Saab has way more upside in my opinion and is a few years older and more ready to succeed.

 

[wombatgc]

My mate who put his hat in the ring for the Broncos job (which truefully he didn’t stand a chance of winning ). But as an assistant coach to various clubs over the years, and his ability to not only spot talent, but harvest it from a young age. He was offered the assistant role by Brown at the Warriors, which he declined. Then he was offered assistant job at the Saints. He had a fairly long association with Griffin at the Broncos. He went down to have a look around. But in the end family comes first so he decided to keep on coaching the Easts Tigers in the qcup.
Griffin knowing he had lost his man, asked for some advice on some of their juniors, especially Saab. He told Griffin to do what ever you can do to accommodate him and his family. Star in the making with Griffin as coach old mate told me


*** Based on old mates assumption, my previous post of "Fuuck Saab. Seriously hes done nothing..."will be all forgotton.

 

[Bring back the.... Biff?]

One has played 5 NRL games The other has played 7.......on those stats I guess they both have potential/ upside....a lot of our players seem to be classified as “high potential “

Maybe you can support someone else if he comes like you said you would with Foran...

Just... yeah nah

 

[The Wheel]

My mate who put his hat in the ring for the Broncos job (which truefully he didn’t stand a chance of winning ). But as an assistant coach to various clubs over the years, and his ability to not only spot talent, but harvest it from a young age. He was offered the assistant role by Brown at the Warriors, which he declined. Then he was offered assistant job at the Saints. He had a fairly long association with Griffin at the Broncos. He went down to have a look around. But in the end family comes first so he decided to keep on coaching the Easts Tigers in the qcup.
Griffin knowing he had lost his man, asked for some advice on some of their juniors, especially Saab. He told Griffin to do what ever you can do to accommodate him and his family. Star in the making with Griffin as coach old mate told me


*** Based on old mates assumption, my previous post of "Fuuck Saab. Seriously hes done nothing..."will be all forgotton.

I think the train has already left the station for Hook

 

[Loobs]

Speed to burn:

 

[bSw]

I could understand Griffin digging his heels in for an estsblished star, but the kids a rookie.

Seems a strange way for Griffin to make his initial impression with the players pulling this hardline stance.

Players move on from clubs quite often on this "personal reasons" option and clubs accomodate it.

Strange dude that Griffin.

I think he's just playing business..."I have what you want, how badly do you want him?" Kinda thing

 

[bSw]

Fuuck Saab. Seriously hes done nothing..

You're right, with guys like Taufua who needs a tall, athletic youngin who runs like lightening? He'd be useless right?

 

[double hoops]

Manly don't have much of a track record in recent years of getting their Man.

 

[Ben]

Manly don't have much of a track record in recent years of getting their Man.

Yep... now days we get the dregs and players that need a second chance in the bargain bin to extract some value into our cap

 

[Mac Man]

So guess its the off season - Best we got is some newbie that might be coming from the dragons.. Woohoo.
What a great season it has been. 🙂

 

[Highflier]

What makes you so equivocal that he isn't coming to Manly dav123?