Yet another crack (if you will excuse the pun) appears re: Hindmarsh.
His effectiveness on the field has dulled from the zero of a few years ago to actually being a liability. He is, along with Vella and Cayless, the reason Parramatta did not win the premiership in 2001. At that time, his poor performance was more the exception than the rule, but by the time he was playing Origin in the beginning of NSW's current losing streak, the rule and the exception swapped sides. Along with Andrew Ryan's similar traits and Phil Gould's myth of making Origin a hallowed place where workmanlike stoicism is more highly valued than entertaining and effective skill, Origin became entrenched as a money-making bonanza which, when the veneer is stripped, is an "event" made special for the money generated, scorned by the very few remaining smart league fans much as dedicated racegoers look with disdain upon the once-a-year racing enthusiasts at Melbourne Cup who organise sweeps, lunches, fancy-hat events, gush about the chances of the horse with the jockey wearing velvet with pink polka-dots, and wouldn't know the difference between a lock, a forelock or a fetlock.
A good second-rower can either be the type that provides tough, intimidating defence, or runs hard at the line, or provides second-phase play or perhaps ball-playing before the line, putting the defence in two minds every time he receives the ball. Hindmarsh provides none of these, rather, a soft third-man in tackler and a lumbering runner where there is never a question in the defensive team's mind that he will try to pass the ball in any of his (s)hit ups. Every time he receives the ball, it in fact provides the defence the opportunity to regroup, take a short breather, and prepare themselves for the following ruck, sending in a couple of pawns to make an easy tackle.
As for the likes of people making note of the fact that every time the opposition scores, he is seen to be the man always in picture chasing... so what? He has done nothing to prevent the try, the try invariably being neither the first nor last of the match against Parramatta. His passion? His heart? There is more passion and heart shown on the anguished faces of Parramatta fans in the background, but they are not selected for first-grade, for although like Hindmarsh they do not have the ability, unlike him they do not have the myth perpetuated for so long by commentators and journalists following a trend that they know will be accepted of espousing his deeds.
As for this revealing story about his addiction to poker machines a dozen or so years ago, at least he can be applauded for bringing to light and trying his utmost to solve a serious social problem in Australia. (ha!) As Chopper Read would say, it can be dismissed as foul slander and gossip that the fact is that his media mates obliged him by promoting his upcoming book, being released as his playing career payments wind down.
One last thing. He has been a destabilising influence on Parramatta for many years, comparable only to Jason Taylor's negative influence at Wests and Norths. His outspoken negative views, when viewed as a whole, were echoing the thoughts of such prima-donna princess knuckleheads as Tahu and Hayne, and were given great weight, solemnly and incorrectly, by the league population as a whole. Parramatta lost a terrific coach in Anderson due in no small part to Hindmarsh. The new coach wanted to drop him, rightly so, but the impossibility of doing so contributed indirectly yet importantly to his own sacking.
