Parramatta roll Penrith
By Steve Mascord
April 14, 2007 12:00
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PARRAMATTA second-rower Nathan Hindmarsh last night told of the transformation in Tim Smith's game which has again made the 22-year-old one of the most feared halfbacks in the NRL.
Smith was at his electric best last night as the Eels and Penrith played out an exciting derby in front of 18,756 fans at CUA Stadium, the scores tied 14-14 with 16 minutes to go.
Fullback Luke Burt's second try and another to second-rower Ian Hindmarsh, who also landed his first field goal, were enough to give Michael Hagan's men their third and best win this season, 27-14.
And Tim Smith was the architect, throwing passes for Luke Burt's 14th-minute try and Nathan Hindmash's 31st-minute effort in an impressive all-round display.
"He's very hard on himself but he's adjusted his game," said Nathan Hindmarsh.
"He's doing different stuff at training, he's being more creative.
"His standard long ball he's adjusted that to use the short (passing) game as well.
"It's something he's been working on. He knows himself he's prone for an intercept pass or something like that. It puts the defence in two minds rather than just throwing the long ball all the time."
Smith said the return of his peripheral vision was the reason for his resounding return to form.
"I'm starting to see things a bit better," he said.
"My vision's been a bit down. When you're playing halfback you've got to have good peripheral vision and it's now starting to come back to me.
"I'm starting to see little things that I've got to do. It just comes with confidence, it comes back and you're having a lot of fun as well.
"I don't know if you saw it out there but I was smiling a lot more.
"Confidence is a big thing in rugby league and I was down on it a bit last year. After I missed that tackle on (Rhys) Wesser, I was feeling pretty s . . . . . on myself (but) just like anything else in life, you've just got to get on with it.
"Maturity's a big thing.
"There's only two games I've played half-decent so I've still got a long way to go."
In an end-to-end contest, Burt was denied what would have been his second try in the 17th minute when a super slow-motion replay detected the tiniest of fumbles as he grounded the ball.
The custodian had to wait until 48 minutes to finally get his second, backing up a Ben Smith break to snap the deadlock and making a point of touching down a second time for the benefit of video referee Chris Ward.
"That's the way you should put them down all the time," referee Shayne Hayne told him as he lined up the kick.
Then Hindmarsh landed his 72nd-minute drop goal "the first in a game and not too many more at training," he said.
"It was just spontaneous," he recalled.
"The ball shouldn't have even been coming to me.
"I just looked up, the goal-posts looked quite large so I thought I'd have a crack."
The former Canberra and Catalans forward then forced his way over for his first try of the year four minutes later.
After the conversion kick was taken by Burt, Panthers replacement Paul Aiton was placed on report for a lifting tackle in the lead-up.
Penrith coach Matthew Elliott said his team's inconsistencies were "not to be unexpected. I'm not dying of shock here".
'The frustrating thing is that I know what this team is capable of and coaches aren't by nature patient people. We're making errors at crucial times."
Hooker Luke Priddis said the errors "were probably starting the last session at training".
"I think we're down to 60 or 70 per cent and the blokes in this club are capable of much more," Priddis said.
http://www.news.com.au/sundaytelegraph/story/0,22049,21554723-5006066,00.html
