Chris Sandow

[Poupou Escobar]

Needs to play beind a strong pack.

Behind a beaten pack he's worse than useless. Look at him last year behind the Souths pack. Look at rookie Adam Reynolds - hasn't put a bloke through a gap all year, nor made a break but he's got so much time to kick and pass he looks like a world beater. Likewise in defence - it's so much easier when your defensive line is moving forward on each play rather than spending five tackles backpedalling.

Sandow has been one of our most productive in attack this year but he's well down on his form of the past two years. The obvious difference is the quality of the two packs.

 

[IFR33K]

Maybe he's not capable of steering the pack around the park.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

That's not what he was brought here for. He was brought here to create tries and linebreaks off the back of quick play-the-balls.

That's why we've mostly played with split halves and tight structure.

 

[Maroubra Eel]

It's true and SK would have known this when he bought him. That's why he was trying to sign every decent forward available.

 

[lingard]

It's true and SK would have known this when he bought him. That's why he was trying to sign every decent forward available.

Yeah; I hope Ricky Stuart has more success in recruiting forwrds than S.K. had. I think he will. I`m pretty stoked that he`s our new coach, to be honest.

 

[Tooooks]

Considering the pack he's played behind this year, I don't think Sandow is going too badly.

Tries: Sandow 4, Reynolds 1
T/Assists: Reynolds 11, Sandow 7
Line Breaks: 5 each
LB Assists: Sandow 7, Reynolds 0

Souths fans are obviously happy with the way things turned out, but anyone who thinks Sandow wouldn't be killing it behind South's pack this year are delusional, in my opinion.

 

[jason taylor]

Knowing our luck Ricky will sign Anthony Tupou on 400k for 5 seasons.

 

[Galeforce]

you have not mentioned the most important difference.
Defence.
Reynolds has a passion in his defence and this was noted from his first game in top grade this year. He is NOT an obvious weakness in our defensive line .
in my view all great halfbacks can be counted on in defence.

 

[Tooooks]

you have not mentioned the most important difference.
Defence.
Reynolds has a passion in his defence and this was noted from his first game in top grade this year. He is NOT an obvious weakness in our defensive line .
in my view all great halfbacks can be counted on in defence.

True, Sandow has missed nearly double the tackles Reynolds has (93 to 51), but Parra have conceded about 21 converted tries more than the Bunnies too.

I'm a fan of Reynolds (and Souths), so I've got no interest in getting involved in a Sandow v Reynolds argument. My reason for posting those stats is to illustrate my point that Sandow hasn't been as bad as some people make out.

There's no doubt at all that Souths are getting much more bang for their back with Reynolds than the Eels have with Sandow.

 

[Curleel]

Thought he played ok last night. Had a few good scurries, set up Hindy's try and actually contributed to the defence line quite well, seemed to be tackling around the legs more than usual, it worked.

 

[TheParraboy]

Needs to play beind a strong pack.

Behind a beaten pack he's worse than useless. Look at him last year behind the Souths pack. Look at rookie Adam Reynolds - hasn't put a bloke through a gap all year, nor made a break but he's got so much time to kick and pass he looks like a world beater. Likewise in defence - it's so much easier when your defensive line is moving forward on each play rather than spending five tackles backpedalling.

Sandow has been one of our most productive in attack this year but he's well down on his form of the past two years. The obvious difference is the quality of the two packs.

Souths had a horrific injury toll in the forwards last year, hence why they missed the finals. Sandow did a lot of individual things out of nothing that kept them in a lot of games

He is a confidence player. We had the ball and field positions many times this year and he failed to deliver

Im hopefull change of coach we can get the best out of him, dynamite player.

 

[Sensai Cobra]

Thought he was very good for us on Saturday night. He seems to have played a lot better in the last month or so.

His defence was noticeably alot tougher on saturday.

Hope he can find his best form with us on a regular basis.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

in my view all great halfbacks can be counted on in defence.

I reckon all the great playmakers can be counted on to put people through gaps. That subtle mix of running game, vision and passing combines to create a player who creates linebreaks for others. And plenty of them aren't known for their defence - look at the current LBA leaders Thurston and Marshall. These two lead the LBAs every year, and it's no surprise they're the chief playmakers in their respective national sides.

1. Johnathan Thurston (North Queensland) 19
2. Benji Marshall (Wests Tigers)18
3. Cooper Cronk (Melbourne)16
4. Josh McCrone (Canberra)14
4. Matthew Bowen (North Queensland)14
4. Mitchell Pearce (Sydney Roosters)14
7. Ben Barba (Canterbury-Bankstown)13
8. Billy Slater (Melbourne)12
9. Feleti Mateo (Warriors)11
10. Ben Hornby (St George Illawarra)10
10. Corey Norman (Brisbane)10
10. Gareth Widdop (Melbourne)10
10. Jarryd Hayne (Parramatta)10
10. Peter Wallace (Brisbane)10
10. Scott Prince (Gold Coast)10
10. Travis Burns (Penrith)10
17. James Maloney (Warriors)9
17. Jamie Lyon (Manly)9
17. Todd Carney (Cronulla)9

After that you've got Sandow with 7 and Reynolds with 0. Sandow has actually made slightly more per game than last year, when he finished with 9 LBAs in 24 games. This year he has 7 in 17 games. So it's good that he's learning to take more responsibility. With Roberts and Sandow sharing the playmaking this year, Hayne's LBAs are way down from the 23 he got last year, but his running game has returned, with a lot more linebreaks and tries.

It's just a shame about our shit defence, and Sandow has certainly contributed to that.

 

[Galeforce]

interesting , you have a mix of halfbacks and 5/8 . you also are using the terminology of playmaker and assume that means putting folks through gaps.if Reynolds has not put anyone through a gap ( which i dispute anyway) does this mean he is not a playmaker?
what about his kicks which have resulted in more than a handful of tries ? what about him running through a gap and then passing for someone else to score? what about his defence to get folks into touch resulting in scrum feeds to Souths?
what about his kicking game for position?What about his decision to run the ball when he does not see a viable pass option?What about his decisions to pass to players who then make a break or put someone else through a gap?
If Reynolds is not a leading half , how come Souths have scored more points then any other team?who is the successful playmaker in the Souths team?

 

[Poupou Escobar]

interesting , you have a mix of halfbacks and 5/8 . you also are using the terminology of playmaker and assume that means putting folks through gaps.if Reynolds has not put anyone through a gap ( which i dispute anyway) does this mean he is not a playmaker?
what about his kicks which have resulted in more than a handful of tries ? what about him running through a gap and then passing for someone else to score? what about his defence to get folks into touch resulting in scrum feeds to Souths?
what about his kicking game for position?What about his decision to run the ball when he does not see a viable pass option?What about his decisions to pass to players who then make a break or put someone else through a gap?
If Reynolds is not a leading half , how come Souths have scored more points then any other team?who is the successful playmaker in the Souths team?

He reminds me a lot of another rookie (of the year) Tim Smith. Another bloke who had no running game but kicked well.

Plenty of try assists in his rookie year but f**k-all LBAs. As I said, it's the true measure of a playmaker.

 

[Tooooks]

interesting , you have a mix of halfbacks and 5/8 . you also are using the terminology of playmaker and assume that means putting folks through gaps.if Reynolds has not put anyone through a gap ( which i dispute anyway) does this mean he is not a playmaker?
what about his kicks which have resulted in more than a handful of tries ? what about him running through a gap and then passing for someone else to score? what about his defence to get folks into touch resulting in scrum feeds to Souths?
what about his kicking game for position?What about his decision to run the ball when he does not see a viable pass option?What about his decisions to pass to players who then make a break or put someone else through a gap?
If Reynolds is not a leading half , how come Souths have scored more points then any other team?who is the successful playmaker in the Souths team?

How would he be going if the clubs had swapped halfbacks pre-season? Like I said, I'm a fan of Reynolds, and I think he'll only get better, but don't underestimate the importance of playing behind the best pack in the comp.

 

[Joshuatheeel]

Last two weeks sandow has made a break which has led to a important try in each game. Kelly is the perfect partner for him.

 

[Avenger]

Sandow is starting to play well again.

 

[The EELiminator]

Last two weeks sandow has made a break which has led to a important try in each game. Kelly is the perfect partner for him.

how great is kelly going its a shame kearney didnt bring him on earlier in the year or we might have been travelling a lot better than we are

 

[Utey]

Sandow is starting to play well again.

Cheers scoop, fancy that cooincided with the forwards winning the wrestle (sometimes), playing the ball quicker and actually getting over the advantage line (sometimes).