After inspiring his beleaguered NRL side to a rare win last weekend, Parramatta captain Nathan Hindmarsh says he’ll try to live up to his teammates’ big expectations when they face Newcastle on Saturday.
Outgoing skipper Hindmarsh kickstarted a stunning Eels revival in their clash with Penrith, guiding them to the come-from-behind 19-18 golden-point win.
And his teammates are hoping for a repeat performance against the Knights at Parramatta Stadium on Saturday night.
“There is a bit of pressure on me, the boys are expecting some big things,” Hindmarsh said on Friday.
“I really enjoyed myself last week and hopefully I can do it again.”
The Eels haven’t posted back-to-back wins since round 20 of their 2010 campaign – the longest stretch without consecutive victories of any NRL club.
Currently anchored to the bottom of the NRL ladder, Hindmarsh hopes a win this week could spark a much-needed run of momentum for the Eels.
“Yeah it has been a while, so it would be nice to get two in a row definitely,” he said.
“Considering where we are on the table hopefully it could kickstart a bit of a momentum run.”
The task will be made no easier with the loss of Jarryd Hayne to Origin duty.
But coach Stephen Kearney feels he’s seen enough to know his charges can do the job without the star utility.
“I though Jarryd had a solid game last week and I think in the past we’ve had a real reliance on him to come up with the big plays,” Kearney said.
“But I thought on the weekend it was a real all round good team performance and I thought that was really encouraging.
“There was no over-reliance on Jarryd and I’ve got a pretty experienced fullback in Luke Burt so that’s good.”
Both the Eels and the Knights, who are sitting in 12th place, posted come-from-behind wins last weekend with Newcastle’s 38-20 triumph over the Wests Tigers possibly the more promising of the two.
But with their reputations on the line and the dreaded wooden spoon looming large, both sides will be desperate for a win on Saturday.
“They’re a Wayne Bennett-coached side who are never going to give in,” Kearney said.
“So our focus this week is a good start and to maintain that right through the entire match.”
