Chris Sandow: I am fit for 2013 NRL Season

Chris Sandow: Photo credit: 1eyedeel.com

Chris Sandow was very much in the spotlight last season - often for the wrong reasons.

His fitness was even questioned by one of the club's all-time greats in Peter Sterling.

"I will say here, I think that Chris Sandow is overweight," Sterling said on Triple M radio.

"I think he's playing four or five kilos above what he should be playing and it affects your sharpness - there's no way known that you can carry weight in this game, or very few players can."

The diminutive player admitted to Fox Sports NRL Summertime program that the criticism may have been justified.

"I think I was a bit chubby," Sandow said. "But I've got my six pack back this year.

"I'm enjoying the conditioning here. It's happy but also tough at the same time but you're doing it with your mates. You know you're going to go out and lead for one another out on the field."

Sandow went into 2012 as the Eels' biggest signing, moving from South Sydney on a hefty pay packet understood to be in the $550,000 range.

But he failed to live up to the hype, struggling to recapture the form that saw his prolific rise at the Rabbitohs, as the Eels limped to a wooden spoon.

Big improvements are expected from the Eels in 2013 under the reign of new coach Ricky Stuart.

Fox Sports