Eels bunker down 'to silence critics'
Nathan Hindmarsh says beleaguered Parramatta are working up a siege mentality as they attempt to silence their critics in Friday's NRL clash with Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium.
"We are going to bunker down, get some wins and shove it up to some people," said former Test and Origin star Hindmarsh on Wednesday.
Hindmarsh was badly missed by the Eels in their crushing 48-18 loss on Sunday and both he and coach Daniel Anderson were critical of the team's attitude after the Bulldogs racked up 30 second-half points against them.
But he returns from a wrist injury against the Broncos.
Despite Sunday's poor showing, which left the Eels second from bottom on the ladder, Anderson resisted the temptation to make major changes, with New Zealand international Krisnan Inu the only player axed.
Hindmarsh refused to say whether he felt more changes were needed, but acknowledged something had to be done before facing a Broncos side who have lost just one game this season.
"I sat in the coaches' box and looking at the game from their perspective you can understand the frustration they go through so I was expecting a few changes," Hindmarsh said.
"It would have been a tough decision Ando had to make to drop Inu, but Krisnan is the type of bloke who loves life so this kind of thing isn't going to bother him - he is just happy to be alive."
Despite all the criticism the club received this week Hindmarsh said the team were relishing the tough trip to Brisbane.
"These are the type of games you like to play, it's on a Friday night, everyone's writing us off, Brisbane are in good form, and everyone expects us to lose," he said.
"We have a pretty handy record up there and a good supporter base so I am actually looking forward to it, we will get up there, bunker down and get away from the spotlight as we have taken a bit of a kicking this week.
"We have already started to build up a siege mentality around us and hopefully that will get us through this difficult patch we are having."
"This sort of stuff seems to go with the territory of the Parramatta club you get used to it after a while."
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