Trio Grab The Wheel For Parra's Wild Ride

Sydney Morning Herald

Monday September 17, 2007

Andrew Stevenson

IF PARRAMATTA were a car, Krisnan Inu, Jarryd Hayne and Eric Grothe would be the flashy mag wheels. The engine would be solid but only occasionally spectacular, built on the dependable Nathans, captain Cayless and the tireless Hindmarsh. Tim Smith would be the slightly erratic P-plater, causing the odd bingle through untempered enthusiasm.

But Smith, 22, is not the only one with his hands on the wheel. The other three key position players - five-eighth Brett Finch and hookers Mark Riddell and P.J. Marsh - have driven round the block more times than they might care to remember.

Finch, 26, drove with Canberra and to a pair of grand finals with the Roosters; Riddell, 26, spent plenty of time on the road in September with the Dragons; and Marsh, 27, has been a grand finalist with the Eels and the Warriors.

None of them have retained the elastic brilliance of youth; they're neither the fastest nor strongest. But middle-age (at least in football terms) suits them. They're clever, they know how to milk penalties, make key tackles, organise the defence and stiffen up an Eels side otherwise prone to being a bit flighty.

Look at their contribution on Saturday night. There's Riddell milking penalties out of dummy half almost as if he were the one blowing Shayne Hayne's whistle. Four piggyback penalties to carry the Eels downfield on Riddell's ample frame. Scoring the Eels' first try - gobbling up the rebound off his own grubber - wasn't a bad effort, either.

Even before that, with the Dogs leading 6-0 and powering, Sonny Bill Williams had put Willie Mason through a hole. On the fly, 10 metres out, one player to beat and he's in between the posts. Even better, the player to beat is a half. But Finch scythed Mason in a brave and powerful tackle that belied his size.

His effort in the second half, to pick up a loose ball bobbling around in front of him and slot a field goal for a seven-point margin, was typical Finch: his brain is always engaged.

Marsh backed that up soon after, passing the ball into a retreating player for a penalty, then marshalling the defence as Matthew Utai threatened down the left wing. Riddell won another penalty at the ruck. No bolt of lightning - just a row of neatly struck nails in the Bulldogs' coffin. Alongside Smith, coach Michael Hagan acknowledged the trio as "the key blokes that run our team".

"We've worked pretty hard on them all year, but certainly in the last month," he said. "We know we've got a lot of work in our team, blokes who do the right things, but they've got to put the polish on what we do, and they're doing it very well."

Experience is a bonus on the football field. While Hindmarsh and Cayless have it in quantity, their capacity to impose it on the Parramatta game is limited by the positions they play.

"A lot of the other guys have got their heads down, bum up, working hard," Finch said. "It's certainly our job - me, Timmy, Piggy [Riddell] and P.J. - to add and bit of control and execution to our work. That's our job as the playmakers, and I think we're doing it."

Finch said he believed the more times your thinking and reactions were put under pressure, the better your options would be.

"You learn from your mistakes, you learn from different situations. We've all played semis at different clubs throughout our careers, and it certainly helps in situations like that," he said of Saturday night's win.

And, while the kids will be jumping out of their skins this week, Marsh will have his own kids - rather than just football - to worry about.

"As I'm getting older I've got a fair bit happening off the field, which helps me relax between games," he said. "You can't be worried about football 24 hours a day when you've got two kids running around at home."

DRIVING FORCE

BRETT FINCH

Finals appearances: 11. Canberra (3), Roosters (6), Parramatta (2).

P.J. MARSH

Finals appearances: 14. Parramatta (11), NZ Warriors (3).

MARK RIDDELL

Finals appearances: 10.

St George/Illawarra (5), Parramatta (5).

Source: NRL stats

© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald

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