NRL 2021: Manly’s Jason Saab to honour Sea Eagles teammate Kieth Titmuss
Manly’s Jason Saab will honour his best friend and teammate, Keith Titmuss, in every game for 2021 after his tragic passing.
NRL
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Jason Saab will be running on to the Sydney Cricket Ground in Manly colours for the first time on Saturday night in honour of his best mate Keith Titmuss.
Saab will wear a custom mouthguard marked with the inscription “#623”, the first-grade player number posthumously awarded to Titmuss, who died suddenly after collapsing during a pre-season training session on November 23.
Saab is planning to wear the mouthguard all season long.
“I’ll do as many things as I can to honour him every time I take the field, but the most important way is to carry him in my head and my heart,” Saab said.
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Saab attended a memorial service for Titmuss’ 21st birthday earlier last month and says he struggles daily coming to terms with the death of his friend.
Mostly, it’s the unanswered questions.
“We had a little birthday barbecue near his grave where he is laid to rest. We got together, had some food to eat and shared our memories of Keith,” Saab said.
“I still don’t understand, we still don’t have a legitimate answer as to why he isn’t with us anymore.
“Everyone grieves in their own way. For me, I haven’t lost anyone this close to me before. You know, he is an example that life can be extremely cruel and extremely short.”
The cause of death is still being investigated by the NSW Coroner.
Saab, who officially signed with the Sea Eagles three days after Titmuss died, now carries the dream of NRL success for the both of them — starting tonight against the Sydney Roosters.
“He’s my motivation,” Saab said. “I’d know what he would want me to do and that is what I’m trying to do.
“He’d want me to kill it. He’d want me to get that starting spot and play for him.
“He believed in me and if I wasn’t getting a run he would be defending me. Keith was extremely loyal.
“I owe it to him. That’s why I do what I do now, in memory of him. Try and make everything I do on the field related to him.”
Saab, along with Reuben Garrick and Dylan Walker, will make up a new-look back three for the Sea Eagles with fullback Tom Trbojevic out with another hamstring injury.
For the Roosters, coach Trent Robinson will also roll out a new halves combination in Luke Keary and young playmaker Lachlan Lam.
Keary will take control of the side in a new role for the three-premiership winner at halfback.
“He‘s probably been running the game for a while in his eyes, but I’m looking forward to that move into the halfback role and dominating the game,” Robinson said.
Lam, a Clovelly Crocodile junior, gets the chance to make the No.6 jumper his own in season 2021.
“He knows what it takes to play in this club,“ Robinson said.
“I‘m really looking forward to getting him out there and playing his style of footy, but it’s also something that’s been in his blood for a long time.”
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