Santalab's fear factor
S-LEAGUE club the Tampines Rovers may well be shaking in their boots after reading Brendon Santalab's name on the North Queensland Fury's team list this week. became a hero in Singapore's national competition in 2003, making it his mission to ensure opposition defenders' lives were turned into nightmares. And for six months, after being signed on a loan spell, the versatile forward did exactly that, scoring a staggering 23 goals in just 22 games for Geylang United. Despite scoring some cracking goals for Sydney FC over the past two seasons, injuries have ultimately hindered Santalab from replicating those feats in the A-League.
Now injury-free and with NQFC kicking off their playing life with a pre-season clash in Singapore on Sunday, he can't think of a better place to rediscover his golden touch.

"It was probably the best six months of my career so far, so I am looking to do that now with the Fury," Santalab said ahead of the team's  departure from Townsville yesterday.
"I hope to play 90 minutes week in, week out and be consistent – when you are doing that you are playing well, so that's my main aim. In terms of scoring and things like that, if you are playing well that will come."

Brendon Santalab (left), at Townsville Airport
ahead of the pre-season match in Singapore
Not that the 26-year-old is heading into the game at Singapore's Jalan Besar Stadium immediately expecting to repeat his goal-scoring exploits of 2003. For starters, North Queensland coach Ian Ferguson said he plans to ease the 17-strong squad into action, playing most of them between 45 and 60 minutes."It is our first game, so it is good just to get some kilometres under the belt in a full game ... so it will just be good to tick the legs over and play again," Santalab said. "We'll probably just get the boys together in the structure and the shape – that would be our main aim. "We've worked a little bit on shape at training with the players we have ... and we've had enough time now to get together and we know each other well enough." While the S-League may not rate as highly as its Japanese counterpart, the J-League, Santalab said the Fury would be in for a shock if they took the Rovers lightly. Having left Singapore six years ago, the Wollongong native said he doubted he could give teammates any real insight into what to expect, except that it will be `super hot'.