CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
330-game NRL legend Nathan Hindmarsh (49) is reportedly growing very nervous ahead of the Grand Final between the Parramatta Eels and The Penrith Panthers on Sunday night.
Ten seasons since he hung up the boots, the Parramatta Eels have become well known for their ability to lift out of nowhere in the final throws of the season – as was confirmed by their 58-0 defeat of the Brisbane Broncos a couple years ago.
With nothing but positivity coming out of Brad Arthur this week, and momentum building in the streets of Parra, the Eels could very well trample their way to the silverware – if the boys are on one this weekend.
This result would be quite an issue for the Eels’ most prominent one-club legend, because a win against the Panthers would mean his old team will be winning a Premiership without him.
Now an entertainer/comedian on multiple variety TV shows, Hindmarsh is famous for having never won the comp. Unlike on his colleague Bryan Fletcher – who has won a comp.
Fletcher, who played in the same position as Hindmarsh throughout the same era of football, is remembered for trucking nut off the bench in the Sydney Rooster’s 30-8 win over the New Zealand Warriors in the 2002 NRL Grand Final in front of 80,130 screaming fans.
This kind of euphoric career milestone was never afforded to Hindmarsh, who only ever made it as far as the controversial 2009 Grand Final loss against the Melbourne Storm, side who were later stripped of their Premiership for being cheating scumbags.
It is for this reason that ‘Hindy’ is now death-riding his former club.
“If I don’t get a premiership, no one gets one” he drunkenly told an uninterested stranger at the Bowral Hotel at 11am this morning.
“Nothing against the boys. I still love the club. But they don’t deserve the fireworks unless it’s me holding the shield”
“Fuck em”
However, these comments contradict Hindmarsh’s previous claims that he does not view an NRL premiership to be the pinnacle of rugby league glory.
Hindmarsh has been quite vocal about playing down how much a premiership means to him in the past – most notably during an argument with Johnathan Thurston a couple years back on one of the eighteen Fox League panel shows he panels.
“Mate, I’m the first bloke in the history of rugby league to captain the Prime Minister’s XIII on two seperate occasions” he told Thurston.
“I’m the third player in NRL history and first Parramatta player to pass 30,000 running, attacking metres”
“I couldn’t give a shit about your two premierships and eight Origins. Come back to me when you’ve got those kind of stats next to your name”
MORE TO COME.
