Chris Sandow had gambling problems and weight issues when he went to Parramatta. He got over those issues but could never get his confidence back. I just think Sandow was a better fit at Souths, and off the cuff player who fitted better in the system. Sandow also never got scapegoated when Souths lost unlike his time Parramatta. Sandow was never a great defender but neither was Jamie Soward who was major cog on premiership team like the Dragons. Greg Inglis also lifted the burden off players from Sandow and John Sutton in terms of pressure when the team was struggling.
I still think things would have worked out better for Sandow at Souths. Where a coach like Michael Maguire who has a talent of getting players to reach the potential as in the case with John Sutton. Sandow had a revolving door of coaches with his time in Parramatta ( Stephen Kearney, Ricky Stuart, and Brad Arthur). He also expressed frustration being dropped to reserve grade and not gelling into Arthur's system something which was never a pattern with him at Souths.
You're point about Adam Reynolds is acknowledged though. But for Sandow I really think it was a sliding doors moment.
Soward was like Prince, Thurston and Lockyer where he could be a liability but he was never as bad as Sandow. Unlike the others who could be covered with good team selections, Sandow was an out and out liability who crueled whatever team he was in with lazy efforts.
I couldn't picture Maguire being a big fan either. He seems to have a preference, where he'd much rather an organised structured player than a loose cannon like Chris. That's why he was happy to move Taylor onto the Titans.
This is James Tamou to a tee.
I can see that. He never improved on his 2012, with that said, his form reversal in 2015 was a major cog behind the Cows success that season and he was great in the Grand Final. In comparison, Clinton peaked as a 22 year old, Tamou came into his own as a 24-year old and went onto win a premiership at 27. I think it was a good mutual decision, Tamou didn't have a lot left to offer at the Cows and he received a nice pay day on the way out. While there's some short term pain there for the Cows who I'm sure would prefer him over Kaufusi, the space did allow them to sign McLean who I can see taking his game to the next level at Townsville.
