Wendell asks for a fair go from fans on return
By BRETT KEEBLE
WHEN he returns to rugby league with the Dragons next month, former dual international Wendell Sailor wants to be judged on his on-field performance and not his off-field dalliance with cocaine that resulted in a two-year worldwide ban.
Sailor, who was in town yesterday as guest speaker at the Beauford Club lunch at Newcastle Jockey Club, is about to emerge from the sporting wilderness to restart the league career he walked away from in 2001 to chase new goals in union.
"I just want the public to realise that I've made my mistake and from the start I put up my hand and said, 'Yes, I socially took drugs, it wasn't a good thing to do and I paid the ultimate price for it,' " Sailor said.
"I just want people to understand that it's been a hard road for me, but when I come back I want to be judged on what I do on the field. If I end up playing reserve grade or park football, then so be it, that's the way I end my career, but I've made the effort to come back."
The 33-year-old former Brisbane, Queensland and Australian winger won three premierships with the Broncos, played 14 State of Origin games for the Maroons and 11 Tests for his country before switching to union and playing 37 Tests for the Wallabies.
His career appeared to be over when he tested positive to cocaine in April, 2006, after a Super 14 game between the Waratahs and Brumbies. But he has done his time in purgatory and has spent the past three months whipping himself into shape, six days a week with two personal trainers, and believes he is fitter now than when he was playing union.
"If I don't come back in shape, it's going to be easy for the public to form their opinion of me and what sort of work I've done," he said.
"The bloke who was on holidays with Willie Mason six months ago, rubbing oil on his back, it's good to say he's gone . . . I got out to 115, 116 kilograms, but I'm 110 at the moment and when I finished at the Waratahs, before I went on my holidays, I was at 109-and-a-half.
"My fitness is better now than it was then, and I've got another five weeks to go, so I think now is when I'll strip down another couple of kilos and I probably look like hitting league about 106 or 107 [kilograms]."
Sailor has not yet signed a contract with the Dragons but, when he does, it will be for two years. When he spoke to The Herald, he was unaware his former Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett had been appointed to succeed Nathan Brown at the Dragons next season.
"Wayne's a great coach and that would be great, but I'd also feel for Browny because he's backed me for the last couple of years and he's the reason why I'm going there, and a lot of the senior players have backed me," he said. "Whatever coach I play for, whatever coach is there, I'm going to play my heart out for him and for the players. When you go to a place, you want the players to want you there."
