Sandow ready to turn corner after rough beginning
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday July 17, 2009
Chris Sandow is poised to fulfil the faith others have shown in him, writes Jessica Halloran. He'd take his place in the backyard and in his mind Chris Sandow would convince himself he was Queensland star Alfie Langer. Next, the South Sydney star would whisper to himself, "Don't cry". Then he'd eye off the bigger neighbourhood boys, and his older brothers Denis and Greg, and steady himself to twist his way out of their thumping tackles."I've always wanted to be like Alfie," Sandow says. "I was always him in backyard footy. He's small like me and I liked the way he moved around the field."His parents enforced a "no crying" rule during those games. "All my brothers and friends would come and play and I was always smaller than them," Sandow says. "They were five, six years older than me. My mum and dad used to say, 'If you want to play, you're not allowed to cry'."My big brothers and that, they used to make me cry. My mum and dad would say, 'If you cry, you'll get a hit on top of it'. So I pretty much grew up trying not to cry. That's where I got my discipline from. I pretty much didn't cry from then on."Today the bigger blokes are still charging him down but now it's on the manicured playing fields of the NRL. Although he has copped criticism for his weak defence, it's all relative."It doesn't worry me," Sandow says. "JT [Souths coach Jason Taylor] doesn't mind me missing tackles but I've been working hard at training with the boys. It's really helped me a lot."In June last year, the nifty halfback who stands at 173 cm and weighs 78 kgs found out he was to make his NRL debut. After having his first NRL contract with the Titans ripped up in 2006 because of ill discipline, he felt a wave of relief after a training session last winter when Taylor told him he had his start. He broke his parents' rule and cried."I gave him [Taylor] a bit of a hug," Sandow recalls. "Then I rang my mum and I broke down in tears. I've never looked back since." He was named NRL Rookie of the Year, a tag that has made him a marked man this season."They do figure you out more," Sandow says. "They put all their runners at me, then I've pretty much got nothing for attack. But [last] weekend [against Penrith] it was pretty good. I made all my tackles. No misses ... I've been working really hard on those."It's my second year and everyone pretty much knows how I play now. It's pretty hard. I've got to work on my game. I'm only 20. I've still got a long way to go."Sandow lives in Redfern with his partner and his one-year-old son Stephen. If it wasn't for Stephen, Sandow doesn't imagine he'd have a footy career as pangs of homesickness still sting. Just a few weeks prior to making his debut, he nearly threw it all in to return to Cherbourg."I'm a mummy's boy," Sandow says. "I'm really close to my mum. It was really tough moving away from her ... moving away from community because there's so much love there, but I knew I had to move away if I wanted to go anywhere."If it wasn't for Stephen, I'd be back in Cherbourg. I look back on the way my parents brought me up if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be an NRL player. My little boy, he changed me attitude-wise. I'm only 20 and I'm still pretty much a kid. But I've pretty much got to grow up, settle down a bit, because I'm a dad now."Whenever things get tough I look into my little boy's eyes and I say to myself, 'I've got to keep on going'. My mum always says to me, 'It's not me and you any more, it's you and Stephen'."Tonight he plays the team that he dreamed of playing for when he was young, the Brisbane Broncos. It's crunch time for South Sydney who are in 10th spot on 17 points.There's only eight games until the finals and a win is vital. Sandow cites the "one game at a time" mantra and says they are not talking finals footy yet.As for those boys who used to crunch him into the ground and make him cry, Sandow says: "I'm a lot stronger now even though I'm small. I'd like to see them take me on now."
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald
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