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“Best of both worlds”: Saad’s dad’s constant Carlton-Collingwood wrestle
SEN • June 19th, 2025 10:51 am
Carlton defender Adam Saad’s family has an interesting time watching their son play against the club’s historical rivals Collingwood.
While most Blues fans hate the black and white, Saad’s family is a bit different, particularly his father Zafir.
Even though his son has played 99 games in navy blue since moving over from Essendon at the end of the 2020 season, Zafir still holds the Magpies closest to his heart.
Adam himself also grew up a mad Magpies fan, and while his mum has followed him throughout his career at the Suns, Bombers, and now Blues, his father hasn’t been as easy to convince.
“(I grew up supporting) Collingwood. Yeah, I know, it’s tough (laughs),” he told Seven’s Unfiltered.
“My dad followed Collingwood. And I was a sore loser, I used to cry every time they lost.
“Then you get into the system and you’re like, ‘I can’t follow them no more’.
“My mum has changed each team (I’ve been at), so she goes for Carlton now. My dad, depends on who you ask or who asks him. He’s Collingwood still at heart, but he still supports me.”
Since joining the Blues, Saad has played eight times against the Magpies and has won just two of those games.
While he and the rest of his family would have been disappointed in those six defeats, his old man sees things a little differently… as long as Adam has a strong individual performance.
“He wants me to win. But he’ll tell me, ‘You get best on ground and let Collingwood win, best of both worlds’,” Saad said.
“I say, ‘But what if it’s a Grand Final?’. He goes, ‘Nah, obviously if it’s a Grand Final I want you to win it’.
“But he’s still Collingwood.”
Saad’s father will be a winner either way when the Blues next face the Magpies in Round 17 at the MCG on Friday, July 4.
