St George Illawarra Dragons Tristan Sailor putting a creative spin on isolation
He’s been exploring his artistic side during isolation at his parents home with this NRL young gun reaching an interesting conclusion about the state of the game when it returns.
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St George Illawarra Dragons utility Tristan Sailor spends hours each day on his fitness, Zooming with teammates and doing his commerce degree but has still managed to develop a completely new skill while waiting for the NRL to resume - and it’s a little unusual.
While others battle boredom during strict new lockdown laws, Sailor said he was busier than ever using any extra time to better himself away from the field.
The Dragons youngster has taken up art as a new hobby, with the avid reader’s first piece a collage inspired by Oscar Wilde’s famous Gothic novel Picture of Dorian Gray.
“I’m doing a bit of art stuff, just sort of being more creative and just focusing on stuff where I can sort of better myself,” said Sailor, son of dual-international and former Dragon Wendell and who is off contract this year.
“I’m making collages on canvas and stuff, spray painting, painting a bit of everything. I’ve always been interested in it so I decided to do it while we had time to spare.
“It’s good. It’s a way to keep your mind off what’s going and getting your creative juices flowing. “It’s quite fun to do something different.”
While exploring his creative side, Sailor has also been thinking about the impact the coronavirus has had on the game of rugby league.
The optimist believes rugby league will return in a better state in many ways than it was before the pandemic and with players sporting new skills, passion and intensity.
“I think everyone realises how much it means just playing footy and how much they love it,” he said.
“Whenever it comes back I reckon it’s gonna be a crazy comp because everyone is going to be going 100 per cent.
“I think with everyone’s body feeling better, they will be feeling that extra passion as well.
“It’s going to be a lot more intense and I think more exciting than usual, whether it’s attacking or defensive.”
Sailor believes fans will also share a new enthusiasm for the game.
“I think it’s definitely going to get a lot more audience and stuff because people have missed it so much they are just going to want to watch it.”
Sailor, self isolating in the family home with his parents, said it took only a week of no competition and training with the Dragon squad for him to miss it completely but said there was good communication with other players and Dragons staff.
“Some of the boys are making sure they are sweet during this time because it is very unexpected and we’ve never had to deal with this before” he said.
“So people that are used to having that football routine, it could throw a bit of a spanner in the works I think.”