Sandow needs desire to reach potential: Lang

[Gronk]

CHRIS SANDOW'S former South Sydney coach John Lang thinks the high-profile Parramatta recruit needs to realise the desire for success comes from within.

Lang, who retired from coaching last year, said Sandow needed to match his promise to become a top-shelf NRL player with his approach to each facet of the game.

''If Chris wants to reach his potential it has to come from within,'' Lang told The Sun-Herald. ''The coach can't do that for him. He has elite talent but if he wants to reach his potential, that elite talent has to be matched by elite dedication. He's as good as any halfback in the game; a tremendous natural talent. He loves to compete. Chris loves to win but he loves competing. He has to want to reach his potential.''

Sandow played against his old club last night after leaving for a $550,000 deal to join Parramatta. His initiation into the blue and gold has been bumpy, at best, and included being dropped to Wentworthville. ''Chris has the talent to succeed but [Parramatta] has to do their part,'' Lang said. ''From what I've seen of him this year, he looks as though he's in his shell, although [against Cronulla] there were a few little embers there.

''You never know a player until you've coached him week in, week out, and while he'd be getting a better feel for the way [Parramatta] play, I think Chris is a player you can't bend around your style of game. It has to revolve around him. I think all talented players are like that. It just takes time.''

Parramatta brought in one of the code's all-time great halfbacks, Andrew Johns, to give Sandow one-on-one tuition and Lang, now a sought-after motivational speaker, said one lesson he needed was to understand what it meant to be the team's chief playmaker for the first time in his senior career.

''[Against Cronulla] he looked a bit to me as if he was thinking 'will I or won't I?' but he has to back himself and the team has to back him,'' Lang said. ''When you're the team's main playmaker, it is a big step up. He evolved into it at Souths. In my first year at Souths, [the responsibilities] were split 70-30 [in favour of John Sutton].

''It then became 65-35 and by the end it was just about even. People are looking at him to be the team's No.1 playmaker but that's something he hasn't been before and I think people need to understand it can take a player a little while to learn that. It's also not easy in a team [like Parramatta] that is struggling and who struggled last year.''

Lang was confident Sandow would spark into action and said if he could regain his trademark confidence in attack it would help other parts of his game, including defence.

''His biggest challenge is his defence. It's not something that comes natural to Chris, like his attack. I think if he gets all the other things in place, it will build up his confidence in defence. Confidence is a huge thing, but Chris has to have the want first and then the work. The coach's role is to bring out [what a player] has rather than put it in.''

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...e-to-reach-potential-lang-20120616-20go9.html

 

[bartman]

More coaches stating the obvious about what we need, and what Kearney clearly can't make happen for the players or the team .

 

[fishdmc]

i dont understand, i wasnt laughing last night at any stage of the game, but chris sandow found it funny when he was put into touch 2m from the line, good effort but you didnt make it, there is really nothing to laugh at, who is happy when the game is in the 'balance' and you bomb a try?? he even looked happy at the end of the game, is he taking us for a ride?? surely a tonne of money would give a lot of people the 'want'

 

[bartman]

Yeah, and Kearney's giggles and smirks in the post-match interviews are getting harder to take too...

 

[TheParraboy]

i dont understand, i wasnt laughing last night at any stage of the game, but chris sandow found it funny when he was put into touch 2m from the line, good effort but you didnt make it, there is really nothing to laugh at, who is happy when the game is in the 'balance' and you bomb a try?? he even looked happy at the end of the game, is he taking us for a ride?? surely a tonne of money would give a lot of people the 'want'

They interviewed Sandow after the game, the interviewer asked why he was smiling when he got bundled into touch. Sandow said he couldnt believe that he is a slower than he was last year. As soon as he said it, he quickly said he will have to get stuck into training and get ready for the panthers next week

take your time Chris, when ever your ready...

 

[DeanPay98]

Well Sandow has plenty of potential and we've seen sparks of brilliance from him. I'm not too fussed that he was smiling yesterday when he made the break and then got tackled into touch. Thats his personality and if he's happy he's a better footballer. If he's unhappy and in his shell he's ineffective. He obviously needs to feel supported to perform to his best. And its in everbody's interests that the club responds to that.

What I think should happen is that we should wait until mid-way through next season to see if the Sandow experiment has worked. If it hasn't then lets put it in the Adam Dykes-basket and write it off as a failed venture. We can try and release him next year and sign a genuine half. His kicking game has been good which is a major positive. But yesterday he was way too uninvolved in the attack.

For my money the bigger worry is that Ben Roberts, who has a fantastic running game, seems to have quiet games a bit too often. As a 5/8 Roberts needs to be handling the ball, running it and setting up plays. In the long run it might make better sense to play Roberts at hooker. He's great at dummy half and his runs would be a massive bonus.

With Hayne backing up from Origin we had all three of our major attacking players having quiet games. That is why we only scored six points.

 

[cv8z]

Well Sandow has plenty of potential and we've seen sparks of brilliance from him. I'm not too fussed that he was smiling yesterday when he made the break and then got tackled into touch. Thats his personality and if he's happy he's a better footballer. If he's unhappy and in his shell he's ineffective. He obviously needs to feel supported to perform to his best. And its in everbody's interests that the club responds to that.

What I think should happen is that we should wait until mid-way through next season to see if the Sandow experiment has worked. If it hasn't then lets put it in the Adam Dykes-basket and write it off as a failed venture. We can try and release him next year and sign a genuine half. His kicking game has been good which is a major positive. But yesterday he was way too uninvolved in the attack.

For my money the bigger worry is that Ben Roberts, who has a fantastic running game, seems to have quiet games a bit too often. As a 5/8 Roberts needs to be handling the ball, running it and setting up plays. In the long run it might make better sense to play Roberts at hooker. He's great at dummy half and his runs would be a massive bonus.

With Hayne backing up from Origin we had all three of our major attacking players having quiet games. That is why we only scored six points.

I would say Roberts has failed before Sandow

 

[eel01s]

I thought Sandow was terrible last night. Really disappointing. Failed to take the line on, out of position on the last, terrible last tackle options, and the icing on the take was the intercept. With 30m to go it was obvious he would be run down. Any player with half a brain would know to come infield, take the tackle, and go for a quick play the ball. No, Sandow decides to run closer to the side line, meaning any contact at all from Reynolds puts him into touch.

When you put this play along with Matt Ryan's 4th tackle kick, and some of our other last play options, you can see that we have the dumbest side in the comp.

 

[Newtowneel]

I agree it couldn't have been more obvious that Sandow was going to be run down...Just begs the question why he didn't run in field and take the tackle for a quick play the ball. No brainer

 

[spiderdan]

i dont understand, i wasnt laughing last night at any stage of the game, but chris sandow found it funny when he was put into touch 2m from the line, good effort but you didnt make it, there is really nothing to laugh at, who is happy when the game is in the 'balance' and you bomb a try?? he even looked happy at the end of the game, is he taking us for a ride?? surely a tonne of money would give a lot of people the 'want'

plenty of athletes have laughed when someone has pulled off a great play against them or they just can't seem to get over the top of them in a contest. it doesn't mean they don't give a crap. sandow laughing at being put into touch was more of a reaction and if you captioned it would "be you've gotta be kidding me. that close. what else do i have to do to get there?" type of thing.

 

[spiderdan]

I agree it couldn't have been more obvious that Sandow was going to be run down...Just begs the question why he didn't run in field and take the tackle for a quick play the ball. No brainer

hindsight is a wonderful thing. what if sandow ran in field to take the tackle? what if he ran a bit quicker? what if he had longer legs?

i'm sure no matter what he did if he did something different and didn't score, people would be saying "why didn't he.....?"

 

[jimmy77au]

I found the burrow to be hilarious on Saturday night -with their continual "Judas" Call whenever Sandow got the ball.

for mine, there is one NRL club that can call Judas - Us Vs Jamie Lyon - While Bulldgos will get the same next year if/when $BW Plays for The Rorters.

Sandow served out his contract, and signed a new one with a new club, for more money. Thats what any other employee does......

Funny that they worship GI now - but when his contract runs out...and he scampers off to another club willing to throw bigger money at him..........how they going to react then?

 

[Maroubra Eel]

What's the bet Sandow improves once we get a proper coach.

 

[BPS]

Most Souths fans couldn't give a damn that they lost Sandow! You guys are now starting to understand why!

 

[Sensai Cobra]

Well Sandow has plenty of potential and we've seen sparks of brilliance from him. I'm not too fussed that he was smiling yesterday when he made the break and then got tackled into touch. Thats his personality and if he's happy he's a better footballer. If he's unhappy and in his shell he's ineffective. He obviously needs to feel supported to perform to his best. And its in everbody's interests that the club responds to that.


For my money the bigger worry is that Ben Roberts, who has a fantastic running game, seems to have quiet games a bit too often. As a 5/8 Roberts needs to be handling the ball, running it and setting up plays. In the long run it might make better sense to play Roberts at hooker. He's great at dummy half and his runs would be a massive bonus.

I reckon what we're seeing from Roberts is more or less what's expected. He's always been very hot and cold, prone to brilliance as well as monumental f**k ups. He has been like that for most of his nrl career and this year has been no different. Do we really expect this to change now that he's at the eels under Kearney?

Sandow is the big worry for mine. He is a shadow of what we saw from him last year. He's gone so far backwards it's not funny

 

[Tooooks]

Most Souths fans couldn't give a damn that they lost Sandow! You guys are now starting to understand why!

Of course they don't care NOW - Adam Reynolds is a pretty handy player; he is also playing behind a very good pack. I have no doubts that if Parra had Reynolds and Souths had Sandow, their respective form would be very different.

 

[cv8z]

I reckon what we're seeing from Roberts is more or less what's expected. He's always been very hot and cold, prone to brilliance as well as monumental f**k ups. He has been like that for most of his nrl career and this year has been no different. Do we really expect this to change now that he's at the eels under Kearney?

Sandow is the big worry for mine. He is a shadow of what we saw from him last year. He's gone so far backwards it's not funny

Because
Our forwards are the big worry for mine. They are a shadow of what we saw him play behind last year.
We have gone so far backwards it's not funny

 

[Sensai Cobra]

[/B]

Because
Our forwards are the big worry for mine. They are a shadow of what we saw him play behind last year.
We have gone so far backwards it's not funny

No doubt this is factor, but you don't think a guy thats reportedly one of our highest paid should be contributing a bit more than he is?

Unfortunatley we still rely too heavily on Hayne to create our opportunities, I would have thought that was the whole point in bringing two new halves to the club - to take some of the pressure of Hayne and provide a few different threats for the opposition. At this stage nothing has changed.

 

[cv8z]

No doubt this is factor, but you don't think a guy thats reportedly one of our highest paid should be contributing a bit more than he is?

Unfortunatley we still rely too heavily on Hayne to create our opportunities, I would have thought that was the whole point in bringing two new halves to the club - to take some of the pressure of Hayne and provide a few different threats for the opposition. At this stage nothing has changed.

A guy like Sandow needs a big pack putting the defense on the back foot to look good
Our forwards don't run in 2's & 3's to put the defense in 2 minds and they certainly don't hurt in defense or tire the opposition
A guy 5 foot tall can only do so much

We still rely on Hayne because he is the best we have and potentially the top 5 players in the game. Why wouldn't you rely on him?
He has size, strength and skill

 

[Sensai Cobra]

A guy like Sandow needs a big pack putting the defense on the back foot to look good
Our forwards don't run in 2's & 3's to put the defense in 2 minds and they certainly don't hurt in defense or tire the opposition
A guy 5 foot tall can only do so much

Not his fault?

We still rely on Hayne because he is the best we have and potentially the top 5 players in the game. Why wouldn't you rely on him?
He has size, strength and skill

You don't think he needs some help?