Hindmarsh Confident That Eels' Best Is Just A Game Away
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday March 31, 2006
THE most electric Eel of them all, Nathan Hindmarsh, says too many Parramatta players are drifting in and out of their games and expecting things to happen instead of making them happen.
The NSW and Australian second-rower includes himself in that and says the Eels know what they have to do if they are to emerge from round four with a 2-2 win-loss record rather than a much less flattering 1-3.No one at the club has to be reminded how tough North Queensland will be at Parramatta Stadium tonight. Even before the Cowboys became a genuine competitive force, they had a knack of stretching Parramatta to the limit.But, Hindmarsh says, while a few things have gone wrong, the Eels are not so far removed from good form that they can't turn it all around in one game. "It's definitely not panic stations," Hindmarsh said. "We'd love to be in a better position than what we are, but it's no more than a matter of ironing out a few glitches."We just have to make sure everyone is doing their job and doing it all the time. We've all been a bit guilty of slipping up in that area, myself included. Something happens, a stuff-up in defence or whatever, and we fall away from our game plan."Sometimes we're expecting things to happen instead of just getting in there and getting it done, and we can't afford that. We don't have too many individuals who can simply turn it all around when things go wrong. We play as a team, so we have to concentrate on doing the team things if we're going to win."Hindmarsh said the team had been playing as though the individuals involved had been a bit too relaxed due to their belief in each other and their ability to get the job done. Now, he said, they had to simply go out and do it."We made plenty of breaks against Brisbane last weekend," Hindmarsh said. "And the scoreline [30-10 to the Broncos] didn't indicate how close the game was on the run of play. But the bottom line is that we didn't capitalise on our opportunities and they capitalised on theirs."We've worked on certain areas we needed to work on at training this week. We'll only see if that stuff has worked once we get out on the field again, but we're all on the same page."We believe we can turn it around if we go out and do the things we're supposed to do and that we know we can do. If that happens, it only takes one game to get all the confidence back."Young halfback Tim Smith is known for getting downcast when he makes mistakes and Hindmarsh said he had to learn to not be so hard on himself. "It's up to us senior guys to help him in that area and tell him to not worry about it and keep going when he does make a mistake," he said.
© 2006 Sydney Morning Herald