Eels workhorse Nathan Hindmarsh has changed his mind about quitting representative football at the end of the year after being inspired by Craig Fitzgibbon’s efforts for NSW.
After missing selection for Australian and the Blues, Hindmarsh was set to give rep footy away after this year’s World Cup but says that’s all changed now.
Roosters captain Fitzgibbon is about to turn 31 but he’s been one of the better players for NSW in the Origin series, and Hindmarsh is hoping to enjoy a similar renaissance to his rep career.
“I was going to give the rep footy away, but not now,” Hindmarsh told Fairfax.
“Fitzy could have easily done the same thing and quit rep footy, but look at him now. He has become an inspiration to me.
“Everyone was writing him off years ago. They said he was too old and too slow.
“But he was in a side that wasn’t functioning very well and he was shouldering a lot of the responsibility and stepping up to the front row to help. Now he’s got his own game back.
“I’m only 28 and I’ve decided I’m going to keep making myself available. Even when it comes to retiring from the NRL, you might go and then wish you’d stayed a bit longer.
“My brother [Ian] retired at the end of last season and he’s thinking now that he finished a year early.”
Hindmarsh was once one of the most damaging forwards in rugby league, but regularly notching between 40 and 50 tackles each week took its toll on his attacking game.
But now, with the Eels hitting form and Fitzgibbon providing the inspiration, Hindmarsh is ready to get back to his old ways.
“It’s just the way things are going for me at the moment,” he said.
“I always try to play like that, but I haven’t had the energy to do it properly because I’ve been doing a lot of tackling. The last couple of weeks, I haven’t had to defend much on the left edge, where I play, and that’s left me feeling a lot fresher.”
And with his current contract set to run out in 2010, Hindmarsh is as desperate as ever to win a premiership before his days in the game are over.
“My career will be incomplete if I don’t win one,” he said.
“When I was young and I saw grown men crying on TV because they’d just won a premiership, that really got me going.
“That’s why I wanted to play in the NRL - to win a grand final.”
