Saad El-Hawli

Saad El-Hawli (born 15 May 2001) is an Australian rules footballer who currently plays for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was drafted with pick 13 in the 2024 mid-season rookie draft.

Early career El-Hawli joined the Western Jets for the 2019 NAB League season. He averaged 8.25 disposals and kicked 6 goals from a total of 12 games. Following the cancellation of many local football seasons in 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Victoria, he joined Altona in the Western Region Football League (WRFL) in 2021. He was the club's leading goalkicker for the 2021 season, kicking 26 goals, and also was part of the 2021 WRFL Team of the Year.

In January 2022, El-Hawli signed with the Werribee Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). However, he was omitted from Werribee's side after round 5 and did not return until round 20 against .

For the 2023 VFL season, El-Hawli moved to the Northern Bullants. He impressed early in a practice match, catching the eye of . In 2024, El-Hawli averaged 25.8 disposals and six marks per match while playing for the Bullants. His final game for the club came in round 9 against , where he had 33 disposals and kicked two goals.

In May 2024 it was reported by Melbourne radio station 1116 SEN that had shown interest in El-Hawli ahead of the 2024 AFL mid-season rookie draft.

AFL career El-Hawli was drafted by Essendon with pick 13 of the 2024 mid-season draft. In his second game for Essendon's reserves team, he recorded 27 disposals and kicked four goals against , but suffered a syndesmosis injury that resulted in him missing most of the rest of the season and unable to make his AFL debut that year.

El-Hawli made his AFL debut in round 3 of the 2025 season against at Marvel Stadium.

Personal life El-Hawli is a devout Muslim, and was fasting for the holy month of Ramadan during the time of his AFL debut. His cousin is Bachar Houli, who is also a Muslim and a three-time AFL premiership player with .

Statistics Updated to the end of round 22, 2026.

17 !! 3 !! 2 !! 133 !! 84 !! 217 !! 57 !! 26 !! 0.2 !! 0.1 !! 7.8 !! 4.9 !! 12.8 !! 3.4 !! 1.5 !! 0