Adam Saad

For the Ghanaian footballer, see Adam Saad (footballer, born 2004).

Adam Saad
Saad playing for Essendon in August 2018
Personal information
Full name Adam Saad
Born (1994-07-23) 23 July 1994
Original team Coburg (VFL)
Draft No. 25, 2015 rookie draft
Height 178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 76 kg (168 lb)
Position Defender
Club information
Current club Carlton
Number 42
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2015–2017 Gold Coast 48 (3)
2018–2020 Essendon 61 (5)
2021– Carlton 108 (4)
Total 216 (12)
Representative team honours
Years Team Games (Goals)
2020 Victoria 1 (0)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of round 1, 2026.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Adam Saad (born 23 July 1994) is an Australian rules footballer currently playing for the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League. He previously played for the Gold Coast Suns and the Essendon Football Club.

Early career

As a junior, Saad first played for West Coburg Football Club in the Essendon District Football League. He was part of the club's under-18s premiership in 2010, where he was coached by Phil Cleary.[1]

Saad joined Coburg in 2013 following a TAC Cup stint with the Calder Cannons. After appearing to struggle between Senior and Development level football, he established himself as one of the VFL's leading small defenders, winning the Coburg best and fairest award in 2014 sharing in a tie with Daniel Venditti, and was named in the 2014 VFL Team of the Year.[2] His strong form and State Combine testing led him to being drafted to the Gold Coast Suns with pick 25 in the 2015 rookie draft.

AFL career

Gold Coast

Saad made his debut for the Gold Coast Suns in round 1 of the 2015 season and kicked one goal in a defeat to Melbourne. In round 5, 2015, Saad was nominated for the Rising Star after his team's win over the Brisbane Lions where he had 26 touches.

Following the 2017 season, Saad requested and was granted a trade to Essendon, who sent their 2018 second round draft pick to the Gold Coast in return.

Essendon

Following his impressive first two seasons, in which he placed fourth and third in the Crichton Medal, Saad and Essendon opened contract talks on the eve of the 2020 season about a long-term extension, with a four-year deal expected to be agreed in the short term.[3] However, after round 1 of the season, the league was forced to shut itself down indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the AFL placing an indefinite embargo on any new player contracts as it sought to come to terms with the financial ramifications of the situation. The AFL resumed its season in early June, but did not lift the contract embargo until mid-July.[4] Essendon struggled for form during this period, and by the time the contract embargo had been lifted, Saad was less sure about re-signing with the Bombers than he had been in March.

At the end of the season, Saad shocked Essendon by requesting a trade to their fierce rivals, Carlton, only three years after seeking out Essendon to recruit him.[5]

Carlton

Saad kicked his first goal for Carlton in the Blues' round 7, 2021 win against his old side Essendon.

Through his career, Saad has been known for his dashing pace, and propensity to run long distances with the ball, frequently bouncing it. He led the league in bounces in 2017,[6] 2018,[7] 2021[8] and 2022;[9] in both 2018 and 2022, his tally of bounces more than doubled his nearest rival. As of 2024, he holds the record for highest average running bounces per game since statistics were first recorded in 1999, with 3.46 per game.[10] He has a long left-foot kick, and during his time at Carlton, the spectators would shout "woof!" whenever he took a kick; he was the fifth long-kicking left footed Carlton player to receive this traditional treatment, which had originated with Val Perovic in the 1980s.[11]

Personal life

Saad is a practising Muslim. He is of Lebanese descent.[12]

Statistics

Updated to the end of round 1, 2026.[13]

Legend
  G  
 Goals
  K  
 Kicks
  D  
 Disposals 
  T  
 Tackles
  B  
 Behinds 
  H  
 Handballs 
  M  
 Marks
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game) Votes
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
2015 Gold Coast 42 16 1 2 121 151 272 66 44 0.1 0.1 7.6 9.4 17.0 4.1 2.8 3
2016 Gold Coast 42 10 0 2 75 76 151 36 25 0.0 0.2 7.5 7.6 15.1 3.6 2.5 0
2017 Gold Coast 42 22 2 7 194 171 365 78 50 0.1 0.3 8.8 7.8 16.6 3.5 2.3 1
2018 Essendon 42 22 0 3 199 178 377 56 55 0.0 0.1 9.0 8.1 17.1 2.5 2.5 3
2019 Essendon 42 22 3 0 239 149 388 62 75 0.1 0.0 10.9 6.8 17.6 2.8 3.4 0
2020[a] Essendon 42 17 2 1 201 119 320 49 34 0.1 0.1 11.8 7.0 18.8 2.9 2.0 2
2021 Carlton 42 22 2 6 311 113 424 72 39 0.1 0.3 14.1 5.1 19.3 3.3 1.8 0
2022 Carlton 42 21 0 0 323 136 459 100 47 0.0 0.0 15.4 6.5 21.9 4.8 2.2 3
2023 Carlton 42 25 0 0 341 161 502 111 48 0.0 0.0 13.6 6.4 20.1 4.4 1.9 3
2024 Carlton 42 18 1 1 217 113 330 70 40 0.1 0.1 12.1 6.3 18.3 3.9 2.2 0
2025 Carlton 42 21 1 1 264 114 378 61 53 0.0 0.0 12.6 5.4 18.0 2.9 2.5 0
2026 Carlton 42 1 0 0 5 6 11 1 0 0.0 0.0 5.0 6.0 11.0 1.0 0.0 TBA
Career 217 12 23 2490 1487 3977 762 510 0.1 0.1 11.5 6.9 18.3 3.5 2.4 15

Notes

  1. ^ The 2020 season was played with 17 home-and-away matches per team (down from 22) and 16-minute quarters with time on (down from 20-minute quarters with time on) due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

  1. ^ "Phil Cleary's Biography". Platinum Speakers and Entertainers. Archived from the original on 6 June 2024. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  2. ^ Ratcliffe, Damien (3 December 2014). "Coburg flyer Adam Saad headed to Gold Coast after being chosen in rookie draft". Moreland Leader.
  3. ^ "Lock him in: Dons make move on dashing defender". AFL Media. 4 March 2020.
  4. ^ "The pick of the AFL's uncontracted players". The Age. 24 July 2020.
  5. ^ "Bomber wants out: Speedster set for trade to arch-rival". AFL Media. 6 October 2020.
  6. ^ "2017 Player Totals". AFL Tables. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
  7. ^ "2018 Player Totals". AFL Tables. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
  8. ^ "2021 Player Totals". AFL Tables. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
  9. ^ "2022 Player Totals". AFL Tables. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  10. ^ "Career Totals and Averages". AFL Tables. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  11. ^ Tony de Bolfo (5 July 2022). "From Val to Ang to Adam: The story of the "Woof!"". Carlton Football Club. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
  12. ^ Gleeson, Michael (2 June 2019). "'My family and my religion is everything': fast break with Adam Saad". The Age. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  13. ^ "Adam Saad". AFL Tables. Retrieved 17 March 2026.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Adam Saad.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.