Former NRL player Chris Sandow didn’t listen to a judge and now he has earned another court date and another nomination for The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame.
The Frownlow Medal is awarded to the player whose off-field demeanour epitomises the values of the modern-day footballer and draws attention to the status of footballers as role models to young Australians. It covers Australia’s four major football codes: the men’s and women’s National Rugby League (NRL), Australian Football League (AFL), the A-League (Football) and Rugby Union’s Super Rugby competition. NRL player Shaun Kenny-Dowall won the inaugural medal in 2015, while NRL star Ezra Mam is the most recent recipient.
The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame honours former players and players who received media attention in previous seasons, for similarly scandalous behaviour, and its inductees include Ben Cousins and Julian O’Neill.
Sandow enjoys the rare honour of being nominated for Frownlow honours twice in one year. When he faced a judge earlier in 2025, he was told:
“Don’t come back before the court.”
He was back in court recently and sentenced to 12 months in jail. In addition, a 15-month suspended sentence for previous offences was reactivated.
The former halfback was charged with one count of unlawfully possessing a category H weapon in public, assaulting and obstructing police officers, authority required to possess explosives, two counts of wilful damage, and other offences.
Sandow damaged two cars in March 2025 after throwing rocks at them. When police responded they found Sandow in possession of a rifle, ammunition, a large hunting-style knife, methamphetamine and two used glass smoking pipes.
Sandow resisted arrest and struck one of the officers in the chest during a scuffle. He also left a service station without paying for his fuel. He will be eligible for parole in March 2026 as he has already served 179 days in pre-sentence custody.
The former Rabbitoh and Eel faced court earlier in 2025 for the charge of obstructing police in 2024. He was found to be driving without a licence disqualified by a court order and during the arrest he obstructed police in their duties.
The court heard that Sandow resisted arrest and shouted at bystanders to film the incident. He then kicked the police car for several minutes after his arrest. Not for the first time in his life, he was lucky to avoid jail time.
The police prosecutor told the court Sandow was subject to a suspended sentence at the time of both incidents and called for the sentence to be activated.
The skilful haflback and 2008 Dally M Rookie of the Year was in contention for the hall of fame in 2022, after being involved in a street fight in his hometown of Cherbourg (QLD) and for assaulting police.
In 2022, he was charged with serious assault of a police officer causing bodily harm, serious assault of a police officer or person acting in aid of police officer, two counts of obstructing police, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, two counts of driving without a licence, and evasion.
He was acquitted of the charges of assaulting police but pleaded guilty to the other offences. He was also sentenced to 15 months in jail and suspended for 30 months for an unrelated offence in 2021. This saw him sentenced to 200 hours of unpaid community services within a year and disqualified him from holding or obtaining a driver’s licence for two years.
The former Rabbitoh and Eel is thus a prime candidate for The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame.
Image: NuNa
The Frownlow Medal 