CHRIS Sandow said his fitness wasn’t an issue as he made his comeback from injury in Saturday’s Grand Final defeat to Wigan.

The Australian playmaker has been struggling with a medial knee ligament injury and has not featured since the Challenge Cup Final on August 27.

He proved his fitness enough to be named in the squad for the game at Old Trafford but Tony Smith elected to start with Dec Patton in the scrum-half position.

This meant Sandow was forced on to the interchange bench and he says he was raring to go when he did get on.

“My fitness was good, you could see when I came on I had a lot of energy and that’s what I wanted to bring,” he said.

“I was biding my time and anxious to get on the field but Tony spoke to me at half time and told me to be patient.

“I was happy to get on the pitch in the end with the boys. It’s hard to take, especially losing by such a small margin, but we will be back bigger and better for next year.”

The 27-year-old, who joined The Wire last year from Parramatta Eels, enjoyed a stellar start to his year before being hampered by hamstring and knee injuries.

He came on amid a reshuffle in the pivot positions that saw Patton move to hooker, but he failed to inspire a Wolves comeback.

“Running out there with my teammates was a wonderful feeling.

“We trained really hard all year since we came back for pre-season in November and this was where we wanted to be,” he said.

“Wigan were really good but we played well as well. It was a close game but they just had the edge.

“We were hungry in defence, that’s what you want in big games. You can’t take anything away from the lads, we played well but it just wasn’t to be and credit to Wigan.”

Sandow and his teammates will now take an extended break before returning for pre-season to resume The Wire’s quest for a first league title since 1955.

The former South Sydney Rabbitohs man says his teammates need to ‘be men’ about their latest major final heartache.

“It’s sad and it’s tough to take. It will settle down, we’re all men and we have to get over it,” he said.

“We’re not going to be the same group in pre-season. It will be different with new players coming in but we’ll become best mates straightaway and train really hard.”