Being the full time goal kicker is great for racking up the points. He has been with us for 6 seasons. As I said before, he is a below average player when you take into account his defense - which has been poor for several years now. His attack is excellent, I don't think anyone would dispute that.
2026 recruitment & retention
- Thread starter Disco
- Start date
madmax
Bencher
I dispute that mate. Hi defense is no worse than ‘others’ in the team! Anyway our opinions differ…..so be it.
We will have to agree to disagree but if you watch his performance in the PM's XIII, I believe it was last year, you'll see that he was a manifest liability in defense. The exact same issues we see when he plays for Manly. It really stood out.
Boys. Love your work. Agreeing to disagree shows class, and conflict avoidance. Imagine how the world would be a better place if others could do the same. For my two cents, Garrick is a great winger, and a position 6 - 12 on the ladder center. What I mean by that is he plays well against the lower teams, but when we play the top sides, he gets found out. Feel free to disagree.
It might gets down to the cap, if you want to keep Kolua and Hoppa and Saab is signed to 29 already then you might need to give Willet a run on a cheaper contract. Hearing we are trying to swap Brown for Jack Bird, he is a good centre but concerned he may be injury prone.
DieHardManlyFan
Reserve Grader
I have my tin foil hat on but I truely believe it’s got something to do with the Keith Tittmuss passing. Shuster got that weird contract extension, Saab got his long term contract then suddenly the inquiry went away. Tbh that probably gives our head decision makers too much credit, they probably just thought signing a winger for 5 years was a great deal.
double hoops
First Grader
Umm, Which inquiry are you saying went away?
Tommy made Saab a try scoring machine with a huge amount of set up try's by Tommy. Then when it all dried up so did Saab's form unfortunately.
manly al
First Grader
Think it would be a different matter if Saab was on big money for this long term deal and sure that this is not the case
Had his share of better games in 25 [ probably the best against the Cows away , mid season or so ] and when not apparently hindered with some injury issues ,
Not saying a definite benchmark for a particularly high ranking but inclusion in that recent P M ," s rep side , some indication that he still has something worth while going for him
Really don 't think that he got a decent share of attacking opportunities last season and again the injury issues , hardly helping also .
Has gradually improved in some critical areas ,, admittedly , could still be a bit better in a couple of other facets but not sure how many other wingers out there not on real big coin , would be able to do a better job
Sharks seem to do well with their 2 main wingers for some time now and probably not on real big coin either
Talau and Faualo did quite reasonable jobs when they had wing duties and do rate Blake Wilson
Guess that it mainly going to come down to Saab being relatively injury free and getting some decent attacking opportunities to get best value out of him
And again , would suspect that he is actually on not real significant coin long term
Had his share of better games in 25 [ probably the best against the Cows away , mid season or so ] and when not apparently hindered with some injury issues ,
Not saying a definite benchmark for a particularly high ranking but inclusion in that recent P M ," s rep side , some indication that he still has something worth while going for him
Really don 't think that he got a decent share of attacking opportunities last season and again the injury issues , hardly helping also .
Has gradually improved in some critical areas ,, admittedly , could still be a bit better in a couple of other facets but not sure how many other wingers out there not on real big coin , would be able to do a better job
Sharks seem to do well with their 2 main wingers for some time now and probably not on real big coin either
Talau and Faualo did quite reasonable jobs when they had wing duties and do rate Blake Wilson
Guess that it mainly going to come down to Saab being relatively injury free and getting some decent attacking opportunities to get best value out of him
And again , would suspect that he is actually on not real significant coin long term
Saabs form slipped with the deterioration of our kicking game and poor service from his centre. I hope the arrival of Fogarty will assist.
manly al
First Grader
Koula this recent season at least , has shown that he can turn it on attacking wise against the better ranked sides , just as much as the lesser rated ones
Mentioned previously that this is the time for some main players or identities in club affairs to get very serious in a third party deal to try and get him to commit longer term
Now that Ola has been signed longer term and D C E gone , maybe the marquee allowance for Koula as well on a longer deal
Going to have to offer Turbo some decent money again to continue on , even allowing for the injury cloud that has previously hovered over him and ideally he can mainly be a class act again more regularly but Koula and also relatively injury free , definitely of course very influential for the side to be a serious title threat again
Mentioned previously that this is the time for some main players or identities in club affairs to get very serious in a third party deal to try and get him to commit longer term
Now that Ola has been signed longer term and D C E gone , maybe the marquee allowance for Koula as well on a longer deal
Going to have to offer Turbo some decent money again to continue on , even allowing for the injury cloud that has previously hovered over him and ideally he can mainly be a class act again more regularly but Koula and also relatively injury free , definitely of course very influential for the side to be a serious title threat again
maxta
First Grader
Problem with Saab is he is a sensational finisher in open spaces due to superior speed and his other ability in the air due to his height is way under used, but a wingers main attribute in the modern game is to be able to make those big return metres and also make those robust hitups that penetrate the advantage line and build momentum - this is a big part of the foundations of the better teams, having those wingers who poke through the line and win quick play balls and the opposite effect if dominated and I reckon Saab is dominated more often than not.
Due to his gangly build, defence generally get under him and he gets dominated, actually putting the attack under pressure and if sets are constantly started with no penetration, it can become a struggle.....I feel this is where Garrick was better on the wing as he gave is a bit of that and after many drops early career, Garrick really started making power punching runs to set the go forward...
This is an area Manly really need to improve - the ability to start sets off with more drive and runs that bend the line, Saab still pretty young and has added some size, so hopefully 2026 he can add that punch !
Due to his gangly build, defence generally get under him and he gets dominated, actually putting the attack under pressure and if sets are constantly started with no penetration, it can become a struggle.....I feel this is where Garrick was better on the wing as he gave is a bit of that and after many drops early career, Garrick really started making power punching runs to set the go forward...
This is an area Manly really need to improve - the ability to start sets off with more drive and runs that bend the line, Saab still pretty young and has added some size, so hopefully 2026 he can add that punch !
Ron E. Gibbs
First Grader
Other NRL teams have a back five to do that heavy lifting. We have a back three (Lehi, Koula and Rueben) at best.
Yeah jorge tafua was a bit under rated overall in good teams with flippers for hands, but boy was he a yardage man
| Team | P | W | L | PD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
24 | 19 | 5 | 148 | 44 |
|
24 | 17 | 7 | 212 | 40 |
|
24 | 16 | 8 | 120 | 38 |
|
24 | 15 | 9 | 172 | 36 |
|
24 | 15 | 9 | 109 | 36 |
|
24 | 14 | 10 | 21 | 34 |
|
24 | 13 | 10 | 107 | 33 |
|
24 | 13 | 11 | 132 | 32 |
|
24 | 12 | 12 | 125 | 30 |
|
24 | 12 | 12 | 21 | 30 |
|
24 | 10 | 14 | -76 | 26 |
|
24 | 9 | 14 | -146 | 25 |
|
24 | 9 | 15 | -135 | 24 |
|
24 | 9 | 15 | -181 | 24 |
|
24 | 8 | 16 | -130 | 22 |
|
24 | 6 | 18 | -199 | 18 |
|
24 | 6 | 18 | -300 | 18 |