It takes two as Eels double up once more
GREG PRICHARD
April 21, 2010
TWO club greats sharing the captaincy, double the incentive to win the premiership. That's how Parramatta young gun Daniel Mortimer predicts the Eels will react to coach Daniel Anderson's decision to stick with Nathan Cayless and Nathan Hindmarsh as co-captains for the rest of the season.
Anderson tested the water with the dual-leader concept against South Sydney last weekend, and yesterday named the veteran forwards as co-captains again for the game against North Queensland in Townsville on Friday night, explaining that it was ''the best thing for the team''.
Halfback Mortimer agreed, saying last night: ''Those two guys have done everything in the game except win the comp. It would be great to see one of them up there accepting the trophy, but the thought of both of them being up there, if we could win the comp, will drive us even more to try to do that.
''And this is the only year both of them could be up there together, since 'Caylo' is retiring at the end of the season. That's got to be our ambition, to try to get those guys that chance, this year. They are tremendous leaders, and so is Luke Burt, who has been here just as long.''
Anderson said Hindmarsh had warmed to the leadership role, and was providing long-time skipper Cayless with strong support.
''I have seen 'Hindy' take on a much more prominent leadership role through our tough times recently,'' Anderson said. ''Nathan is a pretty happy-go-lucky guy, but the captaincy brings different responsibilities to those that come with simply playing in the side, and it doesn't hurt for him to get used to those now.
''Nathan Cayless is trying to sort out his post-playing career, as well as doing his very best for the team, so it's probably good for him to share that captaincy responsibility. I think it worked well against Souths, and that it's the best thing for the team.''
Anderson named star winger Eric Grothe on a five-man bench to meet the Cowboys, with Joel Reddy returning from suspension to the centres and Krisnan Inu surviving in Grothe's place after filling in for Reddy against the Rabbitohs. But the coach said Grothe, who is set to miss the Cowboys game altogether, had not been dropped.
''The bottom line with Eric is that he was only able to train for 15 minutes for last week's game and 20 minutes the week before,'' Anderson said. ''He's been carrying injuries, and with Joel being back and Krisnan strong against Souths it gives us the chance to get Eric some treatment and for him to get some training under his belt.
''He's missed a lot of training with his injuries, and he needs to train. He got a rib injury against the Raiders and a knee injury the week before. Normally, I don't use players unless they can train. I just don't think it's suitable, but we were down on players with Joel out so I had to use Eric against Souths.
''Eric's got some work to do on his game, I won't deny that, but that's the case with most of our guys at the moment. There are only a few blokes here who can categorically say they are on top of their game. But we know what Eric gives us. He knows what he has to work on, and if he is able to train solidly he'll be back for our game against the Bulldogs [on Friday week].
''We're taking Eric to Townsville with us so that he can work with our training staff, because they'll all be up there.''
Grothe, Inu and lock Feleti Mateo are among Parramatta players still unsigned for next year, but prop Fuifui Moimoi yesterday confirmed he would be staying with the Eels until the end of 2012
