Saab

[maxta]

Still young and a big string bean the opposition like to pick on
Could be an absolute strike weapon over time and in the right system
Let's get full strength and judge from them, a bit premature judging about individuals and Manly atm....long way to go and will add - we are a show 2022 and reckon will win 2024

 

[Dion Johnson]

Still young and a big string bean the opposition like to pick on
Could be an absolute strike weapon over time and in the right system
Let's get full strength and judge from them, a bit premature judging about individuals and Manly atm....long way to go and will add - we are a show 2022 and reckon will win 2024

Here is a good read with some relevant data on Saab, @brookiebob posted it in another thread.

Manly were right to drop Harper but right-edge problem goes way deeper than him

Manly made a high profile drop of Morgan Harper this week. But their edge defence issues can't be solved by that. They go much deeper.

www.theroar.com.au

 

[Ben]

Just some food for thought. Some telling stats from the South’s game.

Saab - 12 runs for 61 meters
4 tackles and 3 misses
1 tackle break 2 errors

Tuipulotu - 20 runs for 193 meters
5 tackles and 0 misses
6 tackle breaks 1 error

I guess Turbo out injured hasn’t helped Saab too much, what the above stats show is he needs to find a way to be effective without streaking down the sideline in open space.
Defensively is a liability and with a average of 5 meters per hit up is very poor for a winger.

I know Saab and Tuipulotu have totally different styles of play but Saab needs to find a way to be as effective.

2 years ago Garrick was always getting ragdolled in the tough carries but now has found a way to be effective in this area. Saab also has to find a way.

 

[Pepi]

Just some food for thought. Some telling stats from the South’s game.

Saab - 12 runs for 61 meters
4 tackles and 3 misses
1 tackle break 2 errors

Tuipulotu - 20 runs for 193 meters
5 tackles and 0 misses
6 tackle breaks 1 error

I guess Turbo out injured hasn’t helped Saab too much, what the above stats show is he needs to find a way to be effective without streaking down the sideline in open space.
Defensively is a liability and with a average of 5 meters per hit up is very poor for a winger.

I know Saab and Tuipulotu have totally different styles of play but Saab needs to find a way to be as effective.

2 years ago Garrick was away getting ragdolled in the tough carries but now has found a way to be effective in this area. Saab also has to find a way.

Agree. If we are to compete with the best teams we need our back 3 to get us on the front foot each set.
Yes Saab is a great finisher, but is non existent in grinding type matches.

 

[Pete W]

He can't use body type as a reason for his weak yardage. Guys like Tupou were effective from their debut seasons. Defence too should not be something the team can carry him for. He needs to fix his attitude first and foremost. Technique will improve with experience. I just feel he knows his spot his guaranteed (as part of negotiations when he was still at dragons). A stint at Blacktown will do wonders for his drive and development in the long term

 

[double hoops]

The time has come.
He will be back.
We need him back.
We just needs back with a few things in his game way better than they currently are.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

How many of those tries did he score in a tight contest last year though?

Saab scored tries against both Penrith and Melbourne that no-one else could have. It is against precisely those teams that we will need every bit of X factor we can find.

 

[Terry Zarsoff]

Until Saab starts to move up and not back pedal in defence he needs to go to reggies. He doesn't go looking for the extra runs, looks lost in defence and too timid.

Tippy has been a real handful coming out of our own end, like an extra forward. Doing the work Matai and Tafua use to do.

Also good luck tackling him one on one 5 m out from the try line.

I think at this stage, Tippy adds more value to the team than Saab. Just my opinion from what I am seeing the last few weeks.

Defence is going to win this premiership. We need to shut down more threats out wide

I think Scott Donald Saab has been ‘General Motored’ - that is run into the ground.

 

[Lyonstomenzies]

Here is a good read with some relevant data on Saab, @brookiebob posted it in another thread.

Manly were right to drop Harper but right-edge problem goes way deeper than him

Manly made a high profile drop of Morgan Harper this week. But their edge defence issues can't be solved by that. They go much deeper.

www.theroar.com.au

Very, very good article. It tells a lot about our squad and what Des has to think about.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

I don't think there is any great insight in that article, just states a few obvious points that everyone here is already aware of and makes a few false assumptions.

 

[Woodsie]

Saab scored tries against both Penrith and Melbourne that no-one else could have. It is against precisely those teams that we will need every bit of X factor we can find.

By the same logic .. it is precisely those teams that we will need our best set restarts and defense against.

 

[Under the Sticks]

The same old death riders were blabbering on early last year when we were 0-4 that Saab was apparently the cause - then …. a lot quieter when Saab began after a few rounds to excel into his debut season in the NRL.

Now with multiple issues/injuries facing the squad, the same boring few want to sing and dance again - it’s all hindsight 😂😂😂

Kinda funny actually. Selectively pick out parts of Saabs 2 season career so you sound like you know what your talking about.

Back at full strength, he’ll prove once again that he has a contribution to give to the Eagles.

I have to disagree on this one @Batty with lots of comments being backed with evidence from game statistics to describe his deficiencies. Everyone knows he relies on Turbo but every player needs to perfrom without him and on their own merits and Saab has failed to do this.

Again the perfromances of Garrick are the example of what Saab needs to do. His abilitiy has moved forward from 2021 and some could argue at a greater rate WITHOUT Turbo, mainly because he had to based on his role in the team.

Time for Saab to fix his own game and put more effort in for the team.

 

[Dion Johnson]

The same old death riders were blabbering on early last year when we were 0-4 that Saab was apparently the cause - then …. a lot quieter when Saab began after a few rounds to excel into his debut season in the NRL.

Now with multiple issues/injuries facing the squad, the same boring few want to sing and dance again - it’s all hindsight 😂😂😂

Kinda funny actually. Selectively pick out parts of Saabs 2 season career so you sound like you know what your talking about.

Back at full strength, he’ll prove once again that he has a contribution to give to the Eagles.

It has been 8 games and no improvement for Saab, how many games would you be prepared to give him to come good?

For me he has not added anything to his game, he is fast and tall, he needs a few weeks or more in NSW cup for me to build his game, doing it on the big stage ain’t working so far this season.

 

[Rocky]

Saab has glaring strengths and weaknesses. His speed and leaping are clearly at the top of the league, while his ball returns are poor along with his defence.

I don't subscribe to any theory that Saab is any worse a player than last year. Its just that professional sportsmen are great at exploiting other teams weaknesses to the nth degree.

So how is Saab going to address those weaknesses? As others have mentioned, finding a way like Garrick to engineer a decent return of the ball has to be at a clear priority for him. And he needs help from the coaching staff as well in this regard. I hope he is getting it.

 

[John Nicholson]

Good points.

It’s as simple as this for me, you don’t have a player in your team who relies on height and speed if you aren’t going to put him in a position where he can.

If Manly wants to move away from kicking to his corner for tries or the speedster trick plays or creating space on the outside for him - then I absolutely agree with you. You are spot on.

He isn’t like Garrick.
He isn’t like Tuipolotu.
He isn’t To’o.
For the life of me, I can’t understand why people want to compare them. It’s madness.

He’s there cause he’s 6’8 and the fastest in the league. Not cause he’s a good defender or makes metres out of trouble. If people think that’s what he’s employed to do, you’ll be bitterly disappointed.

Agree with you that if Manly want to move away from the style/attributes of Saabs - absolutely he’s not the man for the job. Time to go. 100% agree.

I just feel once the balance of the team comes back, then and only then is Saab able to showcase the reasons he is there - and this will be backed up by evidence from game statistics from last year when we were full strength and he stared.

I agree.

"Why does everyone have to drink beer?" Why do all wingers have to take 1st hit up, apart from "relieving the forwards ? ".

Get someone else to take that hit up on Saab's wing. Forwards are interchanged for a "rest", wingers are not, nor should they.

They are there for two reasons;
▪ Score tries
▪ Stop tries being scored.

Concede Saab the hit up responsibility and train him up hard, in front on and lateral defence. Once he has confidence in his strength and of that part of his game, the occasional hit up will occur.

How many slow useless wingers have you seen shielded in teams, just because they could kick 83% attempts at goal? Use Saab's talents and stop shoving him in a coaches box.

 

[Dion Johnson]

I don’t think he’s the issue we are losing games. He’s a kid 8 games into his 2nd season who’s had 1.5 games with his new centre partner and had his inside backrow suspended and played in a team of 12 for 70mins. All effects the edge defence.

If people recall, Garrick got ragdolled a tonne last year… but he came good. People called for his head - but he came good.

I’ll leave it to Des to make the call - but as I said above, if the team requires defence, metres out of yardage etc more now than last week, then yes - he has to go.

So if we had the time over - who would you have had instead of Saab for these 8 games? And secondly, do you think then we would have won more games?
Maybe bring Tafua back in? He puts on good defensive shots and gets metres out of trouble… sounds like a good plan 😜

Saab done enough last season to nail the spot down to start this season, he just hasn’t added anything to his game and appears to fade in and out of games this season.

My thought is Tippytoes has done enough and should get a crack at left centre, Jorge could be worth a shot for a few games while Saab works out his game in NSW cup.

No doubt Saab can be a very good player.

 

[Dion Johnson]

Saab has glaring strengths and weaknesses. His speed and leaping are clearly at the top of the league, while his ball returns are poor along with his defence.

I don't subscribe to any theory that Saab is any worse a player than last year. Its just that professional sportsmen are great at exploiting other teams weaknesses to the nth degree.

So how is Saab going to address those weaknesses? As others have mentioned, finding a way like Garrick to engineer a decent return of the ball has to be at a clear priority for him. And he needs help from the coaching staff as well in this regard. I hope he is getting it.

He is no worse a player for sure, it’s just that opposition coaches have worked him out along with the glaring weaknesses in his game, this is making it hard on the rest of the team.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

opposition coaches have worked him out

Worked him out?
You mean like, 'Don't let Manly put him in the clear!"

 

[Dion Johnson]

Worked him out?
You mean like, 'Don't let Manly put him in the clear!"

Kick deep into Saabs corner and attack the right defensive edge of Manly,

In 8 games so far this season we have not seen Saab in the clear, your point is valid there, look at how the good coaches have exploited Saabs weaknesses just this season when playing Manly.

 

[Will on the hill]

Two biggest issues around Saab are #1 and #2 on every teams tip sheet every week.

#1 Setup right, attack left with depth, get DCE to bite in, throw it out the back. This isn't Saabs fault but he isn't helping matters by turning his hips/shoulders to the side line and back peddling. Koula has helped this somewhat by following Chez and hitting the out the back runner with speed and intent. Saabs confidence in defence is shot but if he can learn to commit along with his inside defender we will stop a lot of the tries we are letting in.

#2 Cage kick to Saab (bomb to the corner and trap him in a 10x10 cage), it's been proven to work by a few teams and now the cat is out of the bag he is being targeted by everyone. Again not entirely his fault but it means we are getting poor starts to the majority of our sets. Saab is receiving 60% of our kicks (FB and LW 20% each). When teams are doing the same thing over and over we can combat it with kick pressure from the kickers right side and the FB getting closer to Saab to at least pose the threat of a pass if not be a genuine passing option.

There are things we can do to help Saab be more effective but as much as he can be a valuable attacking threat I think selecting Tui on his wing helps address both of these team problems and he is an attacking threat even if he is a few km/h slower over 80m.