The Curious Case of Chris Sandow

So this article starts with Daly Cherry-Evans but I promise it isn’t really about him.

At this point its fair to say we’ve all had a gutful of that story. Instead this is about a player who is now a candidate to take on the job that Cherry-Evans has preemptively vacated on the Gold Coast, the off-contract Chris Sandow.

I wrote last year about an imminent NRL halfback bonanza as no less than nine experienced first grade halves all became free agents for the 2016 season. The future of some of those players was settled relatively quickly.

Albert Kelly was moved on by the Titans, Adam Reynolds and Luke Keary both signed extensions with the Rabbitohs and Aidan Sezer signed with the Raiders (cut to Raiders fans holding their breath until after Round 13).

However the two Sea Eagles halves were always the main attraction in this game of trading places and while their respective futures were nominally settled early in the season, it was always generally understood that Cherry-Evans might do an about face.

Now that he has indeed changed his mind we will most likely see the remaining three players – James Maloney, Trent Hodkinson and Sandow – find a home for 2016 in short order. Of these the case of Sandow is by far the most interesting.

Maloney and Hodkinson are both largely known quantities. Maloney gives you creativity and elite goalkicking but awful defence while Hodkinson is a solid defender but not so much with the playmaking. Both have played Origin and both will do a fine job for whoever they play.

Chris Sandow however is altogether different. Eight years (seriously he’s been in the league for eight seasons) and 150 games into his first grade career its still not clear whether he is even a first grade standard player.

Sandow can be a breathtaking attacking player. At times it seems like he is selecting his playmaking options from a menu that no other player even has access to. Sometimes this works out well – a surprise chip chase and regather, a 40/20 from deep in his own half, a magical two man cut-out pass that arrives at exactly the same time as a steaming winger.

And sometimes it works out less well. A surprise chip chase that is no surprise to the fullback who is ready and waiting. A 40/20 from deep in his own half except that it goes out on the full near halfway. A magical cut out pass that arrives at exactly the same time as the bloke in the front row’s beer arrives at his mouth.

The problem is that Sandow seems to have no capacity to choose his moments. He’s like a toddler with no ability to regulate his own behaviour. In basketball terms Sandow is a heat check guy, a bench gunner.

When he’s on, as he was last Friday, he is scorching but when he’s off he is north of the Wall cold. The difference of course in basketball is that if your heat check guy is cold you just put him back on the bench. NRL coaches don’t have that luxury.

For this reason Sandow divides fans and commentators alike. Phrases like “off the cuff” and “he plays direct” and “he just plays what he sees in front of him” are routinely used to describe him. Brad Fittler said in commentary on Friday night “I love the way he plays”. All of which is completely understandable because Sandow plays with zero conscience.

The modern NRL is a highly structured game and for the most part halves are responsible for executing a high percentage game plan. The idea is to complete your sets, win the “grind” in the middle of the field and then attempt to capitalise on-field position.

Chris Sandow instead seems to treat this game plan like a new years resolution – nice idea in theory but all rather tedious and in the end essentially disposable.

So of course people like Brad Fittler and Andrew Johns love to watch him. Who doesn’t want to do all the fun things like no look passes and chip kicks? He probably reminds them of what it was like for them to play in youth competitions where they got by on raw skill, before the structure and game planning of first grade drained some of the fun out of the game.

But game plans are designed for a reason. The standard of defence in the NRL is substantially higher than even reserve grade or under 20s and in the long run gambling doesn’t pay. At times the great halves like Johnathan Thurston make it look like they’re making it up as they go along. However this is deceptive.

Much like a jazz maestro the brilliance of an improv performance is that it is grounded in mastery of the fundamentals. I think it is fair to say there is a genuine question as to whether Sandow is interested in mastering the fundamentals of an NRL game plan. It is this perceived lack of dedication to the hard, boring parts of his craft that infuriates his critics.

And then we get Sandow’s most profound weakness, his god-awful missed tackle rate. While Sandow may not own the record for most tackles missed (that dishonour goes to James Maloney) Sandow attempts far fewer tackles than Maloney making his missed tackle rate far worse.

Indeed over the last season and a half Sandow has missed nearly 30per cent of the tackles he has attempted (for Maloney the figure is closer to 18%). This puts enormous pressure on his teammates and provides a let-off valve for the opposition.

One thing that has helped Sandow’s defence in recent years though is the ban on shoulder charges. In his early years the four foot tall Sandow had an infatuation with attempting shoulder charges. This was, it must be said, spectacular when effective but more often than not simply provided amusement for opposition fans as he ping ponged backwards from the player he was attempting to tackle.

At his best Chris Sandow is a charismatic spark plug of a player. At his worst he is a tire fire. His attack veers from extraordinary to cringeworthy while the best case result for his defence is that he is that not a liability.

In the end though there are sixteen NRL halves job and probably only ten or so genuinely creative attacking halves available at any one time so someone will take a chance on him. For this we should all be grateful for the one thing you can say of Chris Sandow is that he is never boring to watch.