It’s safe to say that Jason Saab has had a mixed record across in his short first grade career. After a false start at the Dragons, he skyrocketed in 2021 before coming back to Earth with a bump in a poor 2022.
To some, the 199cm flyer was the luckiest man alive, the bloke who got to stand outside Tom Trbojevic in a season where everyone scored a mountain of points. His straight-line speed allied to his fullback’s miracle year was a match made in heaven.
Then the rules changed, the main man got injured again and Saab suddenly looked like his budget namesake rather than a turbo-charged racer.
The nightmare of 2022 got worse: he was one of the seven to sit out of the Pride jersey game in Round 20, then did his ACL in Round 22.
It could have been a major setback, but instead, inspired Saab to make positive changes in his life. Notably, he has piled on the muscle in the off-season and is now as big as he has ever been in first grade.
“With the knee injury, all I could train was upper body so naturally that helped and physically I’ve always been a big human,” he told The Roar.” But it’s more of a mental thing and that comes with experience.
“Someone told me that no two seasons are ever the same and I’ve learned that over the last two years: they’ll be different and you have to adjust accordingly. You take the positive from each year and try to fix the negative. It’s a different game now.
“Everyone asks me about speed but I just want to be a complete footballer, I want to play 200 plus games and Origin and for Australia, so it’s going to take more than just being the fast guy. That’s what I’m really working towards.
“It’s frustrating to go from playing 25 games in a year and then having your spot challenged for, but that’s just what it’s about. The other boys are obviously great players and I’m just trying to earn my spot every time I take to the field.
“In 2021 and going into 2022, I didn’t have that novelty anymore. I think I made a bit of a name for myself and became part of people’s game plans, and it worked. It taught me a lot about myself and what first grade is, what you need to be capable of.”
Saab’s recovery from an ACL tear within just seven months is almost unprecedented, but the winger explained that he knew he could come back swiftly and with confidence that he could stretch out the joint.
“It’s my Nigerian genes!” he joked on his swift return. “I have to give my medical team good shout out, they put so much work in to get me back as soon as possible and as safely as possible too without being reckless with my return.
“I’m grateful to be back and the knee’s holding up. I didn’t have a single thought about it. I didn’t worry about the knee.
“I did all the stuff that I needed to do to pass my pitch ready testing and the knee was in a good place. I was confident in the medical staff and we did all the work.
“If anything was to happen again, what could I do? That’s just how it goes. So I try to take to the field, go out there to play and not worry. If someone thing happens it happens and I can’t control that, what I can control is what I do in the game. Just play football.”
“I’m a very faithful person, so I leave it up to God. But with the things that I can control, I try not to look at it as competition, I try to look at my own path and what I have to get right. I wasn’t expecting to come back and play first grade – I was expecting to earn my way back in.”
Mike Meehall Woodhttps://www.theroar.com.au/2023/04/18/its-going-to-take-more-than-just-being-the-fast-guy-how-jason-saabs-rapid-acl-recovery-inspired-him-to-bulk-up-and-dream-big/‘It’s going to take more than just being the fast guy’: How Saab’s rapid ACL recovery inspired him to bulk up and dream big
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