Parramatta ironman Nathan Hindmarsh will play through the pain of a wrist reconstruction in the early rounds of the NRL season as he continues his recovery from the off-season operation.

Hindmarsh underwent surgery on his left wrist after the Kangaroos' Four Nations tour and is yet to play a trial for the Eels in 2010.

Eels coach Daniel Anderson says his workhorse second-rower is keen to get some minutes under his belt in Saturday night's hit-out against the Sydney Roosters in Gosford and a decision will be made later in the week.

"He's unable to (play) at the moment just because it's too painful when he collides with people," Anderson told reporters on Monday.

"It's not going to be something that goes away in two weeks, it's going to be something he'll carry through the competition.

"He's a tough hombre so he wants to play to get a little bit of the rustiness out of his game. It doesn't worry me if he doesn't.

"I'd say there's other players that are already in a little bit of discomfort ... so he is going to have to play with a little bit of discomfort early in the season."

The worrying news on Hindmarsh came as back-rower Ben Smith booked in with a facial specialist for Wednesday to learn the full extent of his cheekbone injury.

Smith suffered a suspected fracture in Saturday's trial against Penrith and has already been ruled out of this weekend's hit-out against the Sydney Roosters in Gosford.

Star Eels Jarryd Hayne (sternum) and Daniel Mortimer (head gash) have also been ruled out of Saturday's trial.

Anderson said Dally M medallist Hayne's withdrawal was precautionary.

"If it was round one next week he'd play but we'd rather not continually flare it up, we want to get it right for round one," he said.

One player itching for a run at Bluetongue Stadium is Timana Tahu, who has shown no signs of his past hamstring troubles and will play his first game for the Eels since 2007 after serving out a two-match suspension.

"He's a cat on a hot tin roof at the moment because he's trained very hard, he does all the contact sessions but can't put it into practice," Anderson said.

Tahu could play the full 80 minutes on Saturday and Anderson backed him to get back to the form which made him a Test player after two years in rugby union.

"If Timana comes back to what we think he's capable of, he's representative quality, there's no doubt about it," Anderson said.

"If he at all finds health and comfort and a little bit of happiness in his own mental state as I think he will, I think you'll find that he'll be knocking on the door of representative (teams)."

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