Chris Sandow – infamous for being consistently inconsistent.
Throughout his playing career Sandow has struggled with his weight, form, off-field demons (gambling), and in 2012 he was dropped from first grade and forced to play for the Wentworthville Magpies.
On the field he was a frustrating player to watch. He could tear teams apart with his sleight of hand and burst of speed.
But more often than not he would do something incredibly stupid, like chip and chase inside his own half, which would leave Eels fans pulling their hair out and screaming ‘This bloke isn’t worth $550,000 a season!”.
But since Brad Arthur came on board as the Eels coach, he’s become one of the top halfbacks in the league.
Don’t believe me? Check out his 2014 stats and see how they line up against the NSW Origin incumbent halfback Trent Hodkinson.
Hodkinson: 25 games, 10 try assists, 6 line breaks, 6 offloads, 0 40/20s, 90 hitups for 822 metres.
Sandow: 21 games, 17 try assists, 7 line breaks, 10 offloads, 7 40/20s, 114 hitups for 1096 metres.
Sandow out-ranks Hodkinson in every major stat, despite playing fewer games.
He was the league leader in 40/20s (seriously, seven 40/20s? That’s outrageous!). The next closest were million dollar man Daly Cherry-Evans, premiership winner Adam Reynolds and Penrith’s comeback kid Jamie Soward, who all had three.
In fact he finished eighth in the league for try assists, ahead of quality players like Reynolds (16), Cherry-Evans (15), Mitchell Pearce (14) and Shaun Johnson (11).
One area he does need to improve is his tackling technique.
With the Eels’ favourite weapon, Jarryd Hayne, off chasing NFL glory, Sandow will be forced to shoulder more responsibility this year, and if last year is a sign of things to come then Mr Inconsistent might earn himself a new nickname.
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