He was rarely beaten during season 2001 no matter what job he was given. His preparation is second to none in the club. He doesn’t assume a thing. Arrogance is not a word he knows or understands.
And most refreshing of all Sando has the broadest and most sophisticated appreciation of the place of the footballer in this club, his community and his game. Ask him to do something to promote any of the aforementioned and he’s already there.
A special fella, he was genuinely overawed by the occasion.
After the announcement he ran, a la a Wimbledon winner, to kiss his parents. It seemed to take him forever to get to the stage.
When he did get to the podium he expressed deep embarrassment at having his name on the honour board next to the likes of Garry Hocking and Gary Ablett. But the characteristics of a champion manifest themselves in all sorts of ways. Champions aren’t just the blokes with the infinite skills. They can be the people who take whatever nature has given them and use it to the fullest for personal and team achievement.
“To win this award is a massive thrill,” Sando said, at the same time summonsing all his strength to stop his knees, and his voice, from shaking as he stared out at the crowd of 800 supporters, some of them so spectacularly dressed that, in the words of the Don McLean song, you weren’t sure if they were bound for a ball or a bath.
“You look at the list of past winners and to see some of those names is amazing. Those guys are legends, my name will look out of place.”
Brenton also said thanks to his girlfriend Leilani, the inspiration for some of his poetry and with whom he recently visited Samoa on holiday. Even there he was promoting his game and club, conducting informal coaching clinics and handing out Geelong goodies to the kids.
Sando started the count slowly but as the chicken or beef main course gave way to the fruit and choccies, it was obvious he and fellow defender Matthew Scarlett were going to be in a tight contest.
Justin Murphy was also there and thereabouts, but Murph’s injury was still to come.
To their great credit, both Scarlett and Sanderson polled well in those dispiriting last 5 games, a fair sign of their commitment to something better for Geelong somewhere down the track.
Sando, like anybody who rises to anywhere near the top in footy, sport, or life, has had his share of setbacks. Geelong was his third club and that relationship didn’t get off to the greatest of starts when he was dropped for the 1995 grand final. He obviously hasn’t forgotten that one. It cropped up a couple of times in his acceptance speech. But we all need a bit of the brown stuff in the liver, even the nice blokes.
The same might be said of the coach who presented his award to Tom Harley at the end of the night, then made a speech.
He gave the players the plan for the years ahead and his support to take them through it. But anyone not prepared to follow the lead should consider a life elsewhere. In his second year, the coach has been sharpened, hardened. No one has learned more from 2001 than Mark Thompson.
Except maybe for Sando who has discovered to his infinite joy the demanding lover called footy, the siren who wants everything but promises little in return, can sometimes be very, very generous.
