John Skandalis
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John Skandalis (born June 16, 1976 in Sydney, NSW) is an Australian rugby league player for the Huddersfield Giants in the Super League competition. He previously played for the Wests Tigers and his position of choice is at Prop forward.
[edit] Playing career
"Skando" as he is affectionately known to the Tigers fans, is one of the most popular players at the club formed from the merger of the Western Suburbs Magpies and the Balmain Tigers in 2000, and was the last original Western Suburbs player left at the club after the merger. He signed on for the magpies in the early 90's after playing out his junior years with the Minto Cobras and was awarded his first grade debut in the 1996 season in round 9 on May 17 against the Penrith Panthers.
Skandalis is known for his workhorse attitude and his never say die approach to rugby league and as the years have progressed his performances have gradually caught the attention of representative selectors. This was seen in both the 2002 and 2004 seasons where Skandalis was dually awarded with his first representative call up for City team in the annual City v. Country fixture.
In the 2005 NRL season Skandalis was a part of the Wests Tigers team, who won the NRL Premiership Grand Final for the first time on October 2, 2005. Many saw him as one of the best prop forwards in the country at the time and this left many disappointed that he was omitted from the Australian Rugby League side.
On June 14th 2006, John signed a 2 year contract to play in Super League with the Huddersfield Giants, starting at the 2007 season, in March 2007.
