Adam Saad (born 23 July 1994) is an Australian rules footballer currently playing for the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's top professional competition. Founded in 1864 in Carlton, an inner suburb of ...

in the Australian Football League. He previously played for the

Gold Coast Suns The Gold Coast Suns is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast in the suburb of Carrara. The club has been playing in the AFL since t ...

and the

Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers, is a professional Australian rules football club. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCracken family in their ...

Early career

As a junior, Saad first played for West Coburg Football Club in the

Essendon District Football League The Essendon District Football League (EDFL) is a professional Australian rules football league competition based in Essendon, Victoria, consisting of teams based in the north-west suburbs of Melbourne. Founded in 1930, the men's competition ...

. Saad joined

Coburg Coburg () is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it ...

in 2013 following a

TAC Cup The NAB League Boys (also referred to as simply the NAB League and formerly known as the TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition held in Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country Vic ...

stint with the

Calder Cannons The Calder Cannons is an Australian rules football club from Melbourne, Australia. The club competes in the NAB League, the Victorian Statewide Under-18s competition, and fields squads in the Under-15s, Under-16s and Under-18s. The club was forme ...

. 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 In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

award in 2014 sharing in a tie with Daniel Venditti, and was named in the 2014 VFL Team of the Year. 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

Saad made his debut for the

in round 1 of the 2015 season and kicked one goal in a defeat to . In round 5, 2015, Saad was nominated for the Rising Star after his team's win over the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions is a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of t ...

where he had 26 touches. Following the 2017 season, Saad requested and was granted a trade to Essendon, who sent their

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

second round draft pick to the Gold Coast in return. At Essendon, Saad showed his durability by only missing one game in three seasons. He slotted into the backline, used his pace to full effort, and was inventive in moving the ball forward. Saad claimed third place in the club's Crichton Medal count in 2019. Saad requested a trade to after the 2020 season, and he was traded on 11 November. Saad kicked his first goal for Carlton in the Blues' round 7,

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

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, 2018, 2021 and 2022; in both 2018 and 2022, his tally of bounces more than doubled his nearest rival. 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.

Personal life

Saad is a practicing Muslim. He is of Lebanese descent.

Statistics

''Updated to the end of 2022''. , - ,

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

, , , 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 , , , 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 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, , , 42 , , 22 , , 2 , , 7 , , 194 , , 171 , , 365 , , 78 , , 50 , , 0.1 , , 0.3 , , 8.8 , , 7.8 , , 16.6 , , 3.5 , , 2.3 , , 1 , - ,

, , , 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 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, , , 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 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

, , , , 42 , , 17 , , 2 , , 1 , , 202 , , 119 , , 321 , , 49 , , 34 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 11.9 , , 7.0 , , 18.9 , , 2.9 , , 2.0 , , 2 , - ,

, , , 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 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 42 , , 21 , , 0 , , 0 , , 323 , , 136 , , 459 , , 100 , , 47 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 15.4 , , 6.5 , , 22 , , 4.8 , , 2.2 , , 3 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 152 ! 10 ! 21 ! 1664 ! 1093 ! 2757 ! 519 ! 369 ! 0.1 ! 0.1 ! 10.9 ! 7.2 ! 18.1 ! 3.4 ! 2.4 ! 12 Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saad, Adam Living people 1994 births Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Essendon Football Club players Gold Coast Football Club players Coburg Football Club players Australian Muslims Australian people of Lebanese descent Carlton Football Club players People from Brunswick, Victoria