Is the Sea Eagles’ current back line the quickest in NRL history?
Considering the pace that Manly’s back line possesses, legendary sprint coach Roger Fabri puts it this way: “In a 4×100-meter relay, if they dropped the baton, they could still pick it up and win.”
Jason Saab, Reuben Garrick, Tolutau Koula, and Tom Trbojevic are available for the Sea Eagles. Luke Brooks and Jaxson Paulo, the recent additions, are also formidable players who will provide coach Anthony Seibold plenty of pace in 2024.
So, the question is: Is this the quickest back line ever put together?
Having personally trained Saab and Garrick, Fabri commented, “I’ve been around a long time, it would have to be the fastest backline in rugby league that ever existed.”
That’s what the data most definitely imply. Telstra Tracker data from the previous season shows that Saab’s highest game speed in 2023 was 37.10 km/h, while Garrick’s was 35.64 km/h and Koula’s was 35.03 km/h. The Sharks’ winger was the only player to have timed quicker than Saab.
While injuries have plagued Trbojevic—who memorably lost a sprint race at the Manly Corso against an unidentified punter in 2021 that was caught on cell phone footage—the superstar fullback is still capable of competing with the fastest players in the league when healthy.
“Our weapons show that we have real speed,” Seibold added, formulating strategies to capitalize on the edge.
It remains to be seen if the speed merchants have many opportunity to in their historic matchup with the Rabbitohs at Allegiant Stadium, which is five meters narrower than a typical rugby league field. If they discover an open area, though, there will be no capturing them.
Players are not timed over the conventional 40-meter sprint by the Sea Eagles. Rather, they concentrate on meters per second, and Garrick records a 10. According to Garrick, Saab is now at about 10.4 meters.
Garrick responded, “I think we are, for sure,” when asked if Manly had the quickest outside backs in the league.
We believe that we have a small agreement between us. Showing that to the competition this year would be awesome. Our hope is that this year we can be a really exciting squad to watch.
“We all back ourselves to score tries if we get into space. We have definitely made an effort to incorporate it into our game play this year. We simply need to hope that we can carry out the strategy on game day. Our forwards’ success provides us with an opportunity to achieve that.
During his tenures with the Rabbitohs and Roosters, Paulo was regarded as one of the team’s quickest players. He consistently ranked among Telstra Tracker’s top users for sprint distance (meters exceeding 25 km/h) and high-speed distance (meters exceeding 20 km/h).
