Hindmarsh-inspired Eels back on track

Daniel Anderson stops short of demanding a State of Origin recall for evergreen workhorse Nathan Hindmarsh – but if he was in charge, the Parramatta coach has no doubts which name would come up first at the NSW selection table.<br><br>Hindmarsh was at his relentless best in yesterday’s crucial 21-14 win over Brisbane, running for an impressive 166 metres to go with the 47 tackles that has become a mainstay of his game in recent years.<br><br>And while most of the plaudits afterwards were reserved for fullback Jarryd Hayne, Hindmarsh continues to work himself to a standstill for the Eels each weekend.<br><br>“I’m not the type of person that will try and second guess Craig Bellamy and I don’t like throwing those things out there, but in terms of my own team I know that Nathan is a top-quality back-rower and someone that you want to have alongside you in the trenches,” Anderson said today as speculation continues over potential changes to the NSW side for Origin III.<br><br>“I’ll always want him in my (Parramatta) team.<br><br>“Craig will pick the side that best suits his style of play and I’m not going to question that but I wouldn’t swap Nathan for anyone.<br><br>“Everyone knows what he brings to the table so it shouldn’t really be a surprise that he played such a big role for us again yesterday.”<br><br>Anderson said he was particularly pleased with Hindmarsh’s attack this season.<br><br>The 29-year-old has been criticised at times for focusing too much on his defence but made some key plays with the ball in hand yesterday, including a late run down the left touchline in the lead-up to Parramatta’s match-sealing try.<br><br>“I think he is starting to improve a little bit in attack,” Anderson said.<br><br>“The thing with Nathan is that you have to continually prod him to back himself with the ball in hand.<br><br>“For a guy with 250-odd NRL games to his name he still plays quite a conservative attacking style because he absolutely hates making mistakes – he hates letting his team-mates down.<br><br>“But having said that, people often overlook the fact that he continues to rank among our leaders in offloads, so perhaps his reputation as a defensive player isn’t really deserved.”<br><br>Parramatta’s upset win over the Broncos kept the home side in contention for a top-eight berth this season but was pleasing more for the nature of their performance than the final result.<br><br>Despite only securing victory in the final minutes, the Eels looked far more threatening throughout and dominated the offload count 39 to 7 – eliciting memories of their 68-22 thrashing of the Broncos at the same ground two years ago.<br><br>“I have always found that Parramatta Stadium as a night field is quite slippery and greasy so I think daytime football really suits us,” said Anderson, who had been critical of his side’s lack of enterprise in going down to Wests Tigers 23-6 in Round 14.<br><br>“It’s funny, I was talking with my brother (former Eels gear steward Jared) the other day and he mentioned that we used to be unbeatable at Parramatta Stadium at night but I said to him: ‘We used to notch up some pretty huge scores on a Sunday afternoon too’.<br><br>“Particularly with some of the young players we have, I think it gives them a lot more confidence that they can throw the ball around.”<br><br>Anderson was also pleased with the efforts of centre Krisnan Inu, who produced a series of telling plays through the 80-minutes including a remarkable tackle on Brisbane forward Josh McGuire to prevent a certain try.<br><br>“That was a huge play in the context of the game,” Anderson said.<br><br>“Players are expected to go out and do things for their team-mates and that’s what we saw from Krisnan yesterday.<br><br>“It was certainly his toughest performance of the year.<br><br>“He was picked up and dumped a few times but he jumped straight up and gave it back with some big hits of his own.<br><br>“It looked to me like he was really enjoying his time out there.”