Ranking the nine fastest men in the history of Australian rugby league
One contender is an Olympian, another sprinted in the Commonwealth Games but none of them come close to this man - and he still has gears to go.
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Sydney sprint guru Roger Fabri has boldly predicted that Manly winger Jason Saab will become the fastest player in rugby league’s 113-year history.
And, incredibly, Fabri has claimed he can find another three metres of speed in Saab, who would then be capable of running 100m with an extraordinary top speed of 39km/h.
No other player in rugby league history has hit such sizzling speeds.
“It’s phenomenal,” Fabri said.
Fabri even insisted Saab could reach that dizzy pace by the start of next season.
The leading sprint coach even listed the footy flyers through history who Saab could mow down – namely Ken Irvine, Mike Cleary, Lee Oudenryn, Martin Offiah, Shane Whereat, James Roberts, Darren Clark and Josh Addo-Carr.
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Saab, 20, will be ready to blast out of the blocks again in Friday night’s grand final qualifier against South Sydney at Suncorp Stadium.
Fabri predicted Saab — with additional off-season sprint training — could hit 38.5km/h to 39km/h and become the fastest league player ever.
“He will be the fastest footballer that’s ever laced on a boot, the fastest footballer that has ever been. He’s not that far off right now,” Fabri said.
“One thing I can say, and this is obviously my area of expertise, and I’m fortunate to train Saab and ‘Fox’ (Addo-Carr), I feel we still haven’t seen the best of Jason Saab, speed wise.
“My top athletes who run at national level, if they can find a metre in a whole season — and we’re talking at the highest level, even the Olympics — that can be life-changing, but I’m saying Saab can find another three metres.
“That would bring Saab to 38.5km/h to 39km/h. It’s phenomenal. He’s six feet four, and still hasn’t yet maximised that stride length.
“At the end of the day Saab is blessed with genetics, there’s no doubt about that. There are still flaws in his mechanics but he is still young and it is unusual for someone with such tall limbs to create so much force.
“If I can bring more turnover into that fly speed…he is already leaving people for dead, they won’t see him. Imagine that long stride shortened and having that frequency increased to create more force…how much further he’s going to get away from people.
“We can cross-reference him with guys like Shane Whereat and Darren Clark — they were two high flyers.
“Then there’s Martin Offiah, Lee Oudenryn and Jimmy ‘The Jet’ Roberts and Michael Cleary, who represented Australia at the Commonwealth Games.”
Asked to predict a 100m race between current stars Saab, Roberts and Addo-Carr, Fabri said: “At the 40 metre mark, I think the ‘Jet’ would be in front, then by the 70 metre mark, ‘Fox’ would be in front but at the 100 metre I think Saab would win.
“‘Jet’ would run last, Fox would run second.”
After combining opinion with research, Fabri drew up a list of the fastest rugby league players – and their speeds – and rated Saab number one. Fabri listed former champion players Cleary and Irvine third and fourth behind Saab and Addo-Carr.
“The reason we got such a good result with Saab last year was that he had that turmoil with St George (last year) and he had a period in a limbo. Because of that, I got to have to nine weeks with him,” Fabri said. “He was coming three days a week.
“If I can get the same amount of time with him this year as I did last year then we’re going to go pretty close to fulfilling the statements I have just made for the start of next season.”
Oudenryn beat Offiah – here touring with the Great Britain squad - in a foot race at Parramatta Stadium during 1992.
MIND GAMES? HASLER INSISTS MANLY STARS WILL PLAY
Manly coach Des Hasler has backed two key players to take the field in tomorrow’s preliminary final clash against South Sydney.
Hasler quashed speculation that outside back Brad Parker [hand] and forward Sean Keppie are in doubt to take on the Rabbitohs at Suncorp Stadium.
“He’s good. He is ready to go,” Hasler said when asked about Parker’s availability.
Keppie was also said to be racing the clock but Hasler said the 23-year old was ‘ready’ to play.
“Yeah, he’s fine. Ready to go,” Hasler said.
Hasler didn’t elaborate on the nature of the injuries in a bid to curtail talk of any potential late team disruptions.
It’s believed Hasler is likely to call-up Moses Suli if Parker is eventually ruled out.
Hearing some interesting mail out of @SeaEagles - Brad Parker (injured) won't play against Souths. Dessie set to call big Moses Suli into the team.
— BUZZ ROTHFIELD (@BuzzRothfield) September 22, 2021
THE WOBBLY FIELD GOAL THAT TURNED MANLY’S SEASON ON ITS HEAD
Manly are 80 minutes away from breaking an 88-year rugby league hoodoo.
The Sea Eagles are on the verge of becoming just the third side in Australian rugby league history to lose their first four games and then make it to the premiership decider.
Not since Newtown in 1933 – who beat St George 18-5 – has a side dropped their opening month of matches before progressing to the last game of the year.
St George did it three years earlier but lost to Western Suburbs.
Manly’s rise from the bottom of the premiership ladder to grand final hopefuls has even surprised skipper Daly Cherry-Evans.
A finals finish, let alone being 80 minutes away from a grand final, seemed unlikely when the Sea Eagles were thumped 46-4 by Penrith in round four.
Their season started with losses to South Sydney, the Roosters and St George Illawarra, which put coach Des Hasler’s future under the blowtorch.
“Even after an 0-4 start, call me crazy I genuinely believed we could scrape into the eight somewhere,” Cherry-Evans said.
“I was pleasantly surprised by the end of the year that we were in the top four. The 0-4 start rattled a few cages. We lacked a bit of confidence after that start.
“Usually when you start 0-4 most teams don’t make finals. The bad seasons at Manly have been bad and the good seasons have been really strong, but this has been a bit of both.
“I guess it’s added to the storyline. It’s exciting.”
Manly’s fortunes changed with a wobbly Cherry-Evans field goal to beat the Warriors 13-12 in round five in Gosford. A loss there would have all but ended their season.
But Cherry-Evans said that moment flipped their year around knowing they could win without fullback Tom Trbojevic.
It was Trbojevic’s presence at training that week which gave Cherry-Evans confidence they could resurrect their season.
“I knew it was massive for us,” Cherry-Evans said. “The younger fellas needed to learn they had a job to do. That job can result in us winning.
“That night against the Warriors, we all had to work hard for that win. Based on the four weeks before, we were scared. Tommy trained during that week because he was going to make his return following week. He carved us up at training.
“I knew he was coming back and he was going to add a different dimension. We knew what was coming, so I knew deep down we had to that win. It was more than a win.
“Going into the year, we felt like we were going to be good as a side. Tom’s incident happens and all of a sudden we have Dylan Walker at fullback, who hadn’t been training there all pre-season.”
Cherry-Evans’ inexperienced teammates were dealt a “finals lesson” in the opening week of the finals against the Storm. They rebounded last week to defeat the Roosters.
They face a South Sydney side who enjoyed the week off.
“It has been the story of the season where we’ve learnt lessons,” Cherry-Evans said.
“Finals was a rude shock for us. We got taught how to get it done by Melbourne and we learnt a lot from that game.
“(Against the Roosters) we were willing to work on our mistakes and adapt quickly. We do care and believe we are a chance of going to the end.”
How Manly turned YouTube sensation into NRL force
It took just three minutes and 50 seconds for Manly recruitment manager Scott Fulton to realise he had to sign giant prop Taniela Paseka.
Fulton has revealed the YouTube footage that was the key to his club securing the 120kg Paseka from Wests Tigers after the 2016 season.
Searching for some size and mobility, Fulton contacted Paseka’s manager Craig Baker and asked if he had any forwards that fit the description.
Baker had just the man and sent Fulton a highlights video of a teenager destroying opponents – in attack and defence – in the NRL under 20s competition and for NSW under 20s.
Fulton watched the video – which ran for 230 seconds – and rang Baker immediately.
“We’ll take him,” Fulton told Baker.
Paseka, 23, ended up leaving Wests Tigers and will be a key man in Manly’s preliminary final against Souths on Friday night.
WATCH PASEKA’S VIDEO REEL BELOW
“I only saw Taniela play maybe once before I rang Craig. I asked him about some players and then brought up Taniela. He sent through the highlights of Taniela. I watched it and straight away rang Craig back and said: ‘We’ll take him’,” Fulton said.
“You could see his sheer size on that video, power, pace, defence, everything really. And you could see he was going to get better and better as he matured.
“He was 19 when we signed him and he then played under 20s for us before going into first grade the following year. I think we signed him on a junior development contract.
“He has had a few injuries but all-in-all, he is a potential representative player, without a doubt.
“With Sean Keppie, Josh Aloaia, Marty (Taupau), along with Dylan Walker, it’s a pretty good rotation Des (Hasler) has at his disposal.
“Taniela is only 23. He’s been around a while but is still young. Good judges generally don’t think front-rowers get going until their mid to late 20s so there’s a lot of upside to him.”
Baker backed up Fulton’s recollection of the signing coup.
“Scott rang me back (after watching the video) and said: ‘We want him’,” Baker said. “We had got Taniela a release and were shopping him around when the conversation happened with Scott.
“Taniela has always been the biggest player on the field. I don’t think there’s been a time when he hasn’t been. That’s obviously been his weapon.
“Over the last couple years, Des has put a different confidence into him and he’s now starting to play some of his best footy.
“Des is also encouraging him to offload. There were a few different things he needed to look at as he gets to the defensive line, rather than just put the ball under his arm and run straight.
“Obviously opposition sides were putting a massive amount of numbers on him to bring him down easily. But now he is starting to vary his game. He has these things in his arsenal and he’s starting to use them.
“You can’t throw multiple bodies at someone if there’s a chance they’re going to offload. You commit too many defenders and then there’s issues. It’s all starting to click for Taniela.”
Like all Hasler-coached sides, Manly players are cautious and refuse to look any further than their next game.
But daring to dream for a second, Paseka said: “Imagine if we won it? It would be cool to watch.”
Poaching raid that sparked 50 years of hatred
Former Manly secretary Ken Arthurson has revealed why he pinched two star South Sydney players in a daring move which sparked 50 years of hatred between the clubs.
That fierce conflict will once again be on show in Friday night’s NRL preliminary final at Suncorp Stadium.
The rivalry between the two clubs started in 1971 when cashed-up Manly signed two champion players from Souths’ golden era – John “Lurch” O’Neill and Ray Branighan, who were both internationals.
Their defections caused outrage at Redfern and evoked a running feud which remains 50 years later. A year earlier, Manly lured dual Souths grand final-winning halfback Bobby Moses to Brookvale.
“Hatred is another term for jealousy,” Arthurson said.
“When people do well, others for some reason get crooked on them and I’m buggered if I know why. People have to get over the hate.
“I was only concerned with getting Manly to win a premiership. No one twisted their arms or forced them to come. They made the decision. I didn’t want to be running down the bottom of the ladder. We wanted to win it and that’s what we set out to do.”
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Asked if he regretted igniting the five-decade furore by signing O’Neill and Branighan, Arthurson said: “Not for one second.”
Before O’Neill and Branighan were signed, Manly had been runner-up five times (1951, 1957, 1959, 1968 and 1970) but never won a title. Arthurson wanted some speed out wide, more mongrel in his pack. Souths had a winning culture, the club having reached the previous five grand finals, winning four.
The decision to sign O’Neill and Branighan produced immediate results when Manly broke through for the club’s first premiership in the pair’s first year at the club, 1972.
With a newly found hard edge, Manly went on to win titles in 1973, 1976 and 1978. Souths subsequently fell into a hole and didn’t win another grand final until 2014.
The transfer of O’Neill, Branighan and Moses was just the tip of the iceberg. Souths stars Tom Mooney, Tony Melrose, Ian Roberts, Craig Field, Mark Carroll and Dylan Walker have all headed to Manly.
Souths’ Book of Feuds discusses the Rabbitohs’ dislike for Manly for stealing O’Neill and Branighan.
“They resorted to the cheque book and lured player after player away from Souths to ‘Millionaires Row’ on the northern peninsula,” the book reads.
“They fleeced Souths of John O‘Neill, Ray Branighan and Bob Moses, each of whom played a major role in Manly’s first premiership in 1972.”
An unrepentant Arthurson was Manly secretary in the early 1970s and played a pivotal role in signing O’Neill, Branighan and Moses.
“As you well know, success breeds a lot of contempt and greed,” Arthurson said.
“The real truth is that before I went to Manly, the club was getting smashed. No one gave a stuff about us. When I went in I thought, ‘I’m going to do something about this’.
“That was my job, to do the best I could for the club. I think ‘Lurch’ and Branighan wanted to play at a club under my control. We needed a front-row forward (O’Neill) and we needed an additional centre (Branighan) at the time. They were both off contract and other clubs had the opportunity to sign them, too.
“I just smile when people say we took all these players from other clubs. That’s their problem, not mine. People forget all the players that were taken away from Manly, including the best player we’ve ever had, Bob Fulton.
“I tell you what, O’Neill and Branighan were ecstatic at the time they played at Manly. Ray still comes to all our functions. It’s not a matter of how much money you offer. It’s a matter of players being at a club where they want to play and having the right environment.
“The money at that time wasn’t a consideration. They were going to get as much at Souths as they were going to get with us. But I have the greatest admiration for South Sydney. They are one of the great clubs of the league.
“It’s a funny thing … people think Manly had more money than the other clubs. It wasn’t quite as they made out. Some clubs made that the reason because they missed out on buying the players they wanted.”
O’Neill, an Australian front-rower, shifted to Brookvale after seven years at Souths before moving back to the Rabbitohs for a further two seasons from 1975. He died of cancer in 1999 aged 56.
After four years at Souths, Branighan, now 73, played seven years at Manly. O’Neill was named in Manly’s best ever team between 1947 and 1990 and was also a member of South Sydney’s Dream Team in 2004.
‘Flat-track bullies’: NRL great’s stunning Sea Eagles sledge
By David Riccio
Premiership-winning Panthers star Ryan Girdler has sensationally poured cold water on Manly‘s title claims, declaring they don’t deserve to be just 80 minutes from a grand final.
Girdler has labelled the Sea Eagles “flat track bullies”, with their preliminary final against South Sydney next weekend underpinned by wins against inferior opposition.
The Sea Eagles advanced to the grand final qualifier by thumping a depleted Roosters outfit 42-6 on Friday night — one week after Melbourne thrashed Des Hasler‘s men 40-12.
It was Manly’s first win against a top-five side this season.
“I can’t believe Manly are one game away from a grand final with the season they’ve had,’’ Girdler told Triple M.
“They’ve (Manly) had some really good performances by some individuals, but I’m not buying it, I’m not buying the whole Manly path.
“They’re flat track bullies.’’
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Girdler, who represented Australia, NSW and won the 2003 premiership with Penrith, pointed to this season’s losses to the Storm, Panthers and Rabbitohs.
The Sea Eagles last played the Rabbitohs in round 2, with Souths prevailing 26-12 at Brookvale Oval.
“They haven’t beaten anyone in that top echelon of teams so far this year,’’ he said.
“They’ve played Penrith a couple of times and got beaten convincingly. They played Melbourne a couple of times and got beaten convincingly.
“Last week was an opportunity (to show more) for Manly because, if you look at their last six or seven weeks, their run in was against bottom sides.
“Then they built a little bit of momentum and they got a little bit of confidence.
“They came up against a side in a semi final and the chips were down and they got absolutely torn apart by Melbourne.”
The TAB have installed Manly as $2 outsiders to beat South Sydney ($1.80).
Sea Eagles gun fullback Tom Trbojevic conceded his side would need to improve on their drubbing of the Roosters.
“It was nice to put on a performance like that but Souths are a completely different outfit,” Trbojevic told 2GB.
“They’re a quality side. We’re going to have to be very good to beat them.
“Obviously it gives you a lot of confidence going into it, but we’ve got some work to do.’’
MANLY’S TERRIFIC TRIO HAVE NINE CLUBS COVERED
By Michael Carayannis
They are the Manly pointscoring trio who have outscored more than half of the competition to break a host of records along the way.
Reuben Garrick, Tom Trbojevic and Jason Saab have become just the third trio of players to score more than 100 points in a season at the same club in the competition’s history. The flyers have amassed a stunning 534 points between them which is more than nine teams have scored for the whole season.
They laid on 26-points during Manly’s 42-6 win against the Sydney Roosters on Friday night.
The trio’s points haul have not beat the feats of the Bulldogs (340 points), Cowboys (460), Broncos (446), Tigers (500), Warriors (453), Dragons (474), Raiders (481), Sharks (520) and Knights (448).
Manly skipper Daly Cherry-Evans said there was no denying the contribution of his back three.
“It’s been a great to see some half opportunities turn into tries,” Cherry-Evans.
“That’s something we haven’t had for a few years.
“It’s a pretty fast back three. It’s really something exciting to watch and be part of. It’s amazing what they’ve been able to achieve.
“It’s great to have little moments like that for them and give them a pat on the back after seeing the work they’ve been putting in.”
Only St George Illawarra trio Mark Riddell, Wayne Bartrim and Nathan Blacklock in 2001 and Penrith players Preston Campbell, Ryan Girdler and Rhys Wesser in 2003 have scored 100 points individually at the same club in a season.
Trbojevic and Saab became the first trio to score 20 tries in a season at the one club.
Garrick has already broken a host of records – including most points in the regular season by any player.
He is now closing in on Hazem El Masri‘s total points season haul of 342.
His 14-point tally on Friday night takes him to 322.
Phil Blake‘s long standing record of most tries in a season for Manly could be next to go after Trbojevic equalled the haul on Friday.
Saab has crossed 26 times for the side.
“They will be the first to admit there is a lot of good stuff in the middle of the field the ball gets to them,” Cherry-Evans said.
“I’m not taking anything away from these three boys. They’ve had their own individual brilliance but if you asked any of them – and I don’t want to be speaking on their behalf – but they aren’t playing for any of those achievements – they are playing for the big achievements, the team ones at the end of the year.
“That’s being in the grand final team.
“That’s our focus. The little accolades along the way are good.”
‘Pretty sad’: NRL ‘should be embarrassed’
In a battle of the footy codes on Friday night in Sydney, the AFL has claimed a huge victory in the heart of the rugby league world.
‘Shattered’ Thurston’s brutal Cowboys truth
The Sharks have booked a place in the NRL prelim but Cowboys club legend Johnathan Thurston has laid his former side’s issues bare.