{"id":101069,"date":"2015-03-26T20:47:36","date_gmt":"2015-03-26T10:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=101069"},"modified":"2020-11-16T11:34:01","modified_gmt":"2020-11-16T01:34:01","slug":"school-first-and-then-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2015\/03\/26\/school-first-and-then-football\/","title":{"rendered":"School First … And Then Football"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Dennis Sandow at the Cherbourg Joinery … going to school every day has allowed him to have a great life, even though he never achieved his dream of representing Australia in rugby league
(Photo: Marcus Priaulx)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

March 26, 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Marcus Priaulx<\/strong>
\nBarambah PaCE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Cherbourg Hornets\u2019 rugby league player Dennis Sandow says education should always come before footy.<\/p>\n

The champion fullback believes going to school every day is a must for those wanting get the best out of life.<\/p>\n

The Murgon State High School graduate of 2001 grew up with younger brother, Parramatta’s Chris Sandow, and was great mates with former Australian test centre Willie Tonga.<\/p>\n

Dennis and Willie were Cherbourg Hornets teammates as kids and would go for extra training runs in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to go to school of a morning,\u201d Dennis, 30, said.<\/p>\n

But he\u2019s glad his parents, Rhonda and Stevie, made him.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to be smart to go to school but it\u2019s always good to go to school,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said NRL clubs now expected their recruits to have gone to school every day and have decent grades.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need their players to have the discipline of turning up every day and listening,\u201d Dennis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what they\u2019re looking for now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dennis trialled with the Parramatta club shortly after graduating from Year 12 and was sent to its feeder club, the Central Queensland Comets in Rockhampton.<\/p>\n

Life after rugby league<\/strong><\/h3>\n

After a year, the now father of two sons and a girl aged 10, 8 and 2, began to run out of money.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t get a job,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

So Dennis returned to Cherbourg and worked as a tiler for 10 years before the occupational hazards of sore knees and back began to tell.<\/p>\n

Four months ago he became an apprentice cabinet maker with Cherbourg Joinery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re always doing something different.\u201d<\/p>\n

He encourages young people to chase their dreams but not be disheartened if they don\u2019t achieve them.<\/p>\n

Dennis said education was important because it enabled people to get on in life for as long as they lived.<\/p>\n

\u201cFooty\u2019s not always going to be there,\u201d Dennis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could get a career ending injury or get old.\u00a0 That\u2019s why education\u2019s important.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t have an education life becomes hard.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cherbourg Hornets\u2019 rugby league player Dennis Sandow says education should always come before footy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":101073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,395],"tags":[1135,35],"yoast_head":"\nSchool First ... And Then Football - southburnett.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2015\/03\/26\/school-first-and-then-football\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"School First ... 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