Brendon Santalab

The man is just a legend, all there is to say.

What a team player....,this from www.a-league.com.au

Brendon Santalab says his calming sideline intervention in a recent Western Sydney Wanderers FC match was inspired by one particular personal experience. 

The Wanderers legend famously walked from the bench and calmed down coach Josep Gombau, who was set to sub off marquee striker Oriol Riera in the opening 15 minutes against the Mariners in Gosford on February 4. 

Santalab explains to www.a-league.com.au the personal experience that inspired him to take the action he did, one which calmed the situation down and ended up being a positive for his side. 

"That's just experience. That's where my conversation with Josep came from. Years of experience. 

"And one moment in particular really helped me in that situation was that Popa [Tony Popovic, then Wanderers coach] wanted to take me off after 10 minutes in one game in China. 

"Ante Milicic [then an assistant coach at Wanderers] stopped him from making the substitution, which I'm very grateful for. 

"I'll never forget that. And that really popped into my mind at that moment when there's a heat of the moment situation. 

"I thought, 'hang on a minute, this needs to have some water put on the fire'. 

"I thought this was a situation I need to get involved in. 

"For me, it was about what was the better thing for the team at that point.

"It wasn't me coming, it was Oriol staying on and fixing whatever the drama was after the game. 

"I felt the situation that we're in at the moment, drama was the last thing we needed. 

"Maybe the tone of my voice, my calmness that really helped Josep.

"We needed positivity, we needed our marquee on the pitch because that's why he's here at Western Sydney. 

"He's a marquee for a reason, he's played in La Liga and it's been great to partner with Oriol. 

"I've always been for the team first and this was a situation when I thought of the best interests of the team and club. 

"For me, I'm really happy the situation ended up in a real positive way. Oriol went on to score 10 minutes later, which was even better for us."

And Riera scored again on Sunday night with Santalab making a telling contribution off the bench in the 4-0 win over Phoenix.

This article was originally published at: www.a-league.com.au/news/brendon-santalab-0

SANATALB TAKES SIDES IN GOMBAU/RIERA FEUD!

edit - What game is he talking about? I don't think he ever played in China when Ante was around. Maybe he's talking about one of our pre-season games we played over there.

7 hours ago, mack said:

SANATALB TAKES SIDES IN GOMBAU/RIERA FEUD!

edit - What game is he talking about? I don't think he ever played in China when Ante was around. Maybe he's talking about one of our pre-season games we played over there.

That one? 12 March 2014, Guizhou Renhe vs WSW, 0:1, ACL group game.

3 hours ago, FCB said:

That one? 12 March 2014, Guizhou Renhe vs WSW, 0:1, ACL group game.

That was my first thought but he stayed back in Australia for that match.

40 minutes ago, mack said:

That was my first thought but he stayed back in Australia for that match.

Can't have been a competitive match then. We did travel to China pre-season S2, didn't we?

We played Ganghzou R&F 8/9/2013 and Santalab started so I assume that was it. He scored in the 32nd minute.

Imagine flying to China for a pre-season game then 10 minutes in the coach wants to take you off the field. 

Really feel sorry for the guy. The only one in the team that seems to hurt when we lose. If the other players and coaching staff show 10% of his passion we would be so much better.

ex players

Farewell Brendan.  You bled  red n black. You will always be the template for what we expect from a WSW player in terms of passion, dedication, committment. Hope one day we get to discuss you being back at the wanderers in the coach n staff thread

Forever the hero.

He put the ball past Vukovic to s*** on Smurfs season in 2016-17. Showed them up as not invincibles.

Would've still been good off the bench for the last 10-20 mins of a game to chase down everything n score the odd goal. Oh well  

Gutted

Heard that we offered him an administrative role (another source said contract but doubt it) but turned it down to extend his career

3 minutes ago, Prydzopolis said:

Gutted

 

Heard that we offered him an administrative role (another source said contract but doubt it) but turned it down to extend his career

That's what it says in the club announcement 

Straight from the farewell article:

“While we were hopeful that Brendon would take up a prominent role within our community programme that was offered to him, we totally understand and respect his desire to continue his career as professional footballer.”

55 minutes ago, wswnick said:

Straight from the farewell article:

“While we were hopeful that Brendon would take up a prominent role within our community programme that was offered to him, we totally understand and respect his desire to continue his career as professional footballer.”

Hope he comes back when he is done pissing around in Perth....would be great working with the kids in the community and at the club,

he joined perth

Could have used some of his mentality this season.

and his leadership

shame how the club treated at the end of last season

41 minutes ago, SBW said:

and his leadership

shame how the club treated at the end of last season

Huh? The club offered him a job but he wanted to keep playing.

If only we knew then how the season would have panned out, he could have done both...

10 hours ago, Edinburgh said:

Huh? The club offered him a job but he wanted to keep playing.

Offering a player who doesn't want to retire a non-playing job is a dick move.

especially with some of the players we retained... would there have been no part to play for Santa off the bench this season. I bet we would be in top 6 territory

On 18/02/2019 at 8:01 PM, mack said:

Offering a player who doesn't want to retire a non-playing job is a dick move.

100% this!!! 

Well, he is 36, his body was shot last season, and so far he's played 257 minutes for Perth. Club didn't want to spend money on a player they expected in sick bay for much of the time. One can argue the wisdom of this decision, but seeing Bridgey injured all season, it seems justified. Having Duke and Yeboah around seems to make much more sense.

club could have offered him low to minimum wages. he certainly offers more than the likes of mahazi and scott. i think the club kinda messed up not keeping a senior player who is a leader around a team without a manager. easy to say in hindsight though. 

His contribution at Perth this season, has been minimal. 257 minutes = 1 goal

https://www.transfermarkt.com/brendon-santalab/leistungsdaten/spieler/21202