It’s fair to say Vivien Saad has enjoyed a remarkable rise over the last month and a half.

Take a journey back to January 24 and she was training with the club’s VFLW squad … 35 days later, Saad played in front of over 3,000 fans at Arden Street, with a 60-strong fan club cheering on her every move.

“The Saady Party” or “Saady Army”, as they’ve been dubbed, bring banners, flags and most-of-all, amazing atmosphere to North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroos’ games.

The support is no surprise, when you consider the size of Saad’s family … she estimates “20-25” first cousins for a start.

“My grandma is one of 13. It just gets bigger and bigger. There’s a lot of us,” Saad told The Herald Sun.

“If you ask my mum how many first cousins she has she’d probably say about 60.”

The fan club is growing fast too; 50 t-shirts with Saad’s image emblazoned on the front, drawn by best friend Samara are already doing the rounds.

Another 20 or 30 are apparently on the way.

“If it’s a local (game), you can pretty much guarantee all of them will be out in force. They love it, they’re really passionate,” Saad said of her family’s support.

“When it’s an away (game) my cousins, aunties and uncles try and take off work if they can – it’s so funny because they make it like their first priority.”

The 27-year-old takes inspiration from the lady she was named after, her aunty Viv.

“She’s my go-to. She’s the one that always believed in me when I never really believed in myself or didn’t believe in myself,” Saad said.

“She’s been there since day one. She sees how much I put in – she comes out with me and goes for kicks even before trying out for VFL (last year), she knows how much I want it. She’s the person that sees it all …”

And as the “Saady Army” continues to build, so does Saad as an AFLW player.

The 27-year-old was called in as a replacement for mum-to-be Jess Duffin days before the season, but has just as quickly established herself as a regular in the Kangaroos’ side.

She makes up for being a little shorter than most of the league’s rucks, with an impressive leap and outstanding athleticism around the ground.

Saad also worked hard on her kicking with coach Scott Gowans, during Winter.

“Every Sunday night I would message Scotty and say ‘7.30am see you then?’ and he’d be like ‘yep, sweet’,” she added.

“I loved the fact that Scotty was all aboard. Not once did he say no or anything like that, he was always happy to come in earlier to work and help me out with my kicks.”

The Kangaroos take on Adelaide this Saturday at North Hobart Oval, with the first bounce at 3.10pm. Entry is free. 

Photo: The Herald Sun - Mark Stewart.