Swift Saab strides out in successful return from injury

Jason Saab picked up where he left off in Round 1 on his return from injury, crossing for a try and causing plenty of headaches as Manly defeated the Titans last round.

Earlier this year, Saab helped light up Las Vegas in the opening game of the season, but suffered a hamstring sprain late in the win over the Rabbitohs, forcing him to wait until Round 7 for his return after a making such a promising start to the year.

“I definitely had a lot of fun (against the Titans), back to scoring tries and attacking, which is probably the best part of my game,” Saab told pan66.com after the match.

“I probably have got to fix up a few defensive things, but that just comes with lessons and getting back in the groove of things, so all good things to take into next week.”

After the game, coach Anthony Seibold said it was “nice to have him back” and was happy with Saab’s involvements in his return, with his trademark speed on display.

“He had a really good pre-season, I thought he was really good in Vegas but unfortunately, we haven’t seen him since,” Seibold said.

“He can make a half chance into something; he did that once or twice in the first half.

“It’s great to have him back.”

Saab – who also ran for 160 metres and had four tackle breaks, a line break and a try assist against the Gold Coast – has suffered injury setbacks before, including a long-term knee injury which cut short his 2022 season, but said the process to return was different for each injury.

“It was probably a bit more nerve-wracking than what I did my knee, bit of a different injury,” Saab said.

“They have a higher chance of reoccurring, but I just tried not to let it stress me.

“I thought to myself, ‘well, whatever's going to happen is going to happen’, that's just kind of how these injuries work and I just put my trust in God and got through it unscathed.

“I also put trust in the professional performance team here that are doing all the numbers, doing the sessions to get me back right and when they say that you're cleared to be back, that's when I hand it over to God and go out there and do my thing and whatever comes of it, comes of it.”

While the Sea Eagles got the two points against the Titans, who are still chasing their first victory, it was a seesawing and scrappy affair, with Saab saying his side knew it would be a tough game.

“I know the last team that started on a losing streak under Des [Titans coach Hasler] went on to finish top four, so you can't get too ahead of yourself,” Saab said of facing the former Manly coach.

“They've been playing really good footy, and they're building each week, and they're getting better and better.

“It was definitely a game I wanted to win, but I was real nervous for it, because even though they're struggling, it's really tough to get two points in NRL these days.

“The last few games, we have been up and been going really well, and then we kind of just probably let our foot off the throat a bit.

“We've been a team in the past that's struggled with starting fast, and now we've got that under control, I think we start very well, but now we need to keep that consistency going throughout the 80 minutes.”