NRL's Hindmarsh hoping for more hit-ups
Despite completing an NRL record 63 tackles against North Queensland, Parramatta backrower Nathan Hindmarsh reckons he's disappointed with one aspect of his performance.
Hindmarsh tackled himself to a standstill against the Cowboys last Friday, with his phenomenal tackle count the highest in NRL history, surpassing the previous mark of 59 held by Brisbane's David Stagg.
The lion-hearted effort prompted former Eels greats Brett Kenny and Ray Price to blast the rest of the Parramatta pack and call on them to lift their games.
Yet despite his heroics, the workaholic Test second rower said there was a glaring statistic he was unhappy with - and he denied his teammates needed to lift their workrate.
"No, definitely not," Hindmarsh said.
"If you look at the stats, I might have made 63 tackles, but only three hit-ups.
"If you look at blokes like Nathan Cayless, he made 35 tackles and 15-20 hit-ups.
"I'm a bit disappointed in that actually.
"I'm not pulling my weight in offence."
There are concerns that Hindmarsh's increasing workload in defence is nullifying his destructive ball-running ability, one of the strengths of his game.
Asked if he needed to cut down his defensive workload in order to be more effective in attack, Hindmarsh agreed the idea may have merit.
"It's possible, three hit-ups is not the ideal number for a forward in 80 minutes.
"Maybe if I try to cut it down a bit it might improve my offence."
The Eels have been crippled by the loss of regular back rowers Glenn Morrison and Chad Robinson, putting the onus onto Luke O'Dwyer, super-sub Dean Widders and debutant Zeb Taia to take up the slack.
Widders said the rest of the Eels forwards had to do their share in the local derby against Penrith and not leave it all to Hindmarsh.
"He works himself so hard, which can seem a good thing but we need him fresher in attack where he can really do some damage," Widders said.
"We'll be looking to share the workload this weekend.
"Hopefully he won't need to do as much as last week."
Despite completing an NRL record 63 tackles against North Queensland, Parramatta backrower Nathan Hindmarsh reckons he's disappointed with one aspect of his performance.
Hindmarsh tackled himself to a standstill against the Cowboys last Friday, with his phenomenal tackle count the highest in NRL history, surpassing the previous mark of 59 held by Brisbane's David Stagg.
The lion-hearted effort prompted former Eels greats Brett Kenny and Ray Price to blast the rest of the Parramatta pack and call on them to lift their games.
Yet despite his heroics, the workaholic Test second rower said there was a glaring statistic he was unhappy with - and he denied his teammates needed to lift their workrate.
"No, definitely not," Hindmarsh said.
"If you look at the stats, I might have made 63 tackles, but only three hit-ups.
"If you look at blokes like Nathan Cayless, he made 35 tackles and 15-20 hit-ups.
"I'm a bit disappointed in that actually.
"I'm not pulling my weight in offence."
There are concerns that Hindmarsh's increasing workload in defence is nullifying his destructive ball-running ability, one of the strengths of his game.
Asked if he needed to cut down his defensive workload in order to be more effective in attack, Hindmarsh agreed the idea may have merit.
"It's possible, three hit-ups is not the ideal number for a forward in 80 minutes.
"Maybe if I try to cut it down a bit it might improve my offence."
The Eels have been crippled by the loss of regular back rowers Glenn Morrison and Chad Robinson, putting the onus onto Luke O'Dwyer, super-sub Dean Widders and debutant Zeb Taia to take up the slack.
Widders said the rest of the Eels forwards had to do their share in the local derby against Penrith and not leave it all to Hindmarsh.
"He works himself so hard, which can seem a good thing but we need him fresher in attack where he can really do some damage," Widders said.
"We'll be looking to share the workload this weekend.
"Hopefully he won't need to do as much as last week."
