Parramatta co-captain Nathan Cayless has backed coach Daniel Anderson, saying he's only doing his job in giving the NRL club's stars a spray for their below par performances.

Anderson's public criticism of Jarryd Hayne after last Saturday's 10-6 loss to Brisbane caused a storm this week, with the NSW fullback forced to hose down reports he could walk out of the club.

Veteran Cayless, who will play his 250th game against the Warriors on Sunday, has thrown his support behind the coach, claiming his comments were blown out of proportion.

"Jarryd was pretty quick to hose those rumours down about him walking out," Cayless told reporters on Friday.

"It's really been made up to be a whole lot more than what it really is."

Asked if a coach was entitled to name names after a poor showing, Cayless said: "Yeah, definitely, that's his job.

"I suppose times might be changing a little bit where it's a bit harder to do that sort of stuff.

"The coach addresses us after every game and let's us know what he's happy with and what he's not too happy with.

"That's part of our job as rugby league players, to be able to accept the criticism when you don't go so well.

"It's part and parcel, you've got to accept the criticism and you've got to accept the pats on the back."

Cayless said if Anderson decided to go public with his disappointment, that was his call.

"That's something for the coach to decide, at the end of the day he's the boss, he runs the show," he said.

But Cayless rejected outright a suggestion Anderson was playing mind games through the media in an attempt to fire up Hayne.

"I've never experienced Daniel playing any mind games," Cayless said.

"He's one guy that's very up front, Daniel, he'll let you know what he thinks."

Parramatta have lost four of their past five games amidst Timana Tahu's racism protest and suspension, a shoplifting fine for CEO Paul Osborne and the Hayne blow-up, but Cayless said the mood was positive heading to Mt Smart Stadium.

"You'd be very surprised if you spent some time with us at training," Cayless said.

"The mood at training doesn't reflect what's being played out in the newspapers and in the media."

Anderson will need to rely on a depleted Eels side, minus NSW representatives Hayne and Tim Mannah, Tahu and injured forwards Justin Poore (leg) and Ben Smith (hamstring), finding some form against the Warriors.

Parramatta know a repeat of the weekly sudden death football they played for more than two months in 2009 is out of the question.

"It's something that we all can learn from, the situation we're going through at the moment," Cayless said.

"A couple of the younger guys in our team maybe came in last year, everything was going good, but you've got to go through tough periods in your career and you learn a bit more from those tough periods than when everything's going well.

"It's easy to play good when your team's going good but it's when everything's tough that you find out how mentally strong players are."

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