A very good Friday spent in Parramatta
Today's note comes to you from the Herald's newly opened Parramatta bureau.
At the desk behind me, bureau chief Anthony Segaert is finalising a project exploring an intensifying war about who gets to speak for western Sydney – particularly as the region's economic, cultural and political power skyrockets.
Next to him, reporter Ellie Busby is writing a story about 14 amateur sleuths spending a huge amount of time trying to get to the bottom of one of Sydney's favourite urban legends: the Blue Mountains Panther.
From the desk next to me, reporter Mostafa Rachwani recently published this great first look at the Parramatta Eels' new $70 million Centre of Excellence, the world's largest rugby league facility.
Our fabulous little office here above the $3.5 billion Parramatta Square urban renewal project has a view that encapsulates why the Herald has established a dedicated reporting team in the geographic heart of Sydney.
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As I type, I can see the new Powerhouse Parramatta (the largest cultural investment in Sydney since the Opera House) rising from the riverbank, and can look down into a huge hole in the ground which will eventually become one of the stations on the Metro West rail line. A little further along, I can see the terrific CommBank Stadium, a real boost for sport in the heart of Parramatta since its opening in 2019. And all around us are new apartment buildings, filled with families and young professionals who are part of a boom that will see the population of the City of Parramatta and its 22 surrounding suburbs climb from 516,000 to 892,000 by 2041.
Anthony, who heads up the new Parramatta bureau, joined the Herald in 2022 and jumped at the chance to move from our North Sydney headquarters. Like Ellie and Mostafa, he's bursting with ideas and energy about how to make sure our coverage truly reflects everything going on in this exciting part of Sydney.
I thought I'd ask him a few questions about Parramatta. Enjoy!
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Daily Telegraph
12 hours ago
- Daily Telegraph
High Steaks: How Hindy dines out on one Eel of a career
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News. Nathan Hindmarsh knows it's coming. He can't escape it. Even 13 long years after retiring as a Parramatta Eels legend – 330 games, 60 tries, 17 Origin matches and 23 Tests – it's the one thing he wasn't able to achieve that is continually brought up. That elusive premiership. Seemingly reminded of it on an almost weekly basis by his TV colleagues on the Matty Johns Show, surely Hindmarsh is bitter at not being able to shake off those two agonising grand final losses? His hearty laugh suggests otherwise. 'Look, if they didn't bring it up I wouldn't be on the show,'' he chuckles. 'That's the only thing keeping me in a job pretty much, either my weight or not winning a premiership.'' Nathan Hindmarsh at Kyubi restaurant at Campbelltown Catholic Club. Picture: Richard Dobson Oh, and the bagging he regularly cops for 'flopping'' throughout his career. 'The flops shit me a little bit,'' he concedes. 'I've definitely flopped on a few people, but there's an art to it because you (need to avoid) being penalised. There's a split second between being a flop or being a third man in, so I made it an art.'' Nathan Hindmarsh on the attack in his last game. But, try as he might to convince others – including his four sons – that the ribbing he cops on-air is just good television, he admits it can be difficult to make his case. 'I try to tell my boys at home that I did have some sort of decent career, playing the game, but they don't believe me because they're too busy listening to those other dickheads I go to work with on a Thursday and Sunday.'' Hindmarsh, who retired as a one-club player at the end of the 2012 season, has been fortunate in his post-footy life, and has his fingers in several pies – literally. Along with his TV and radio gigs, Hindmarsh is also an ambassador for the Your Local Club Perfect Plate Awards, for which he travels around sampling some of the best club restaurant meals in the state. The Schottlander's Wagyu steak striploin with yuzu kosho, gai lan, yakiniku sauce at Kyubi restaurant at Campbelltown Catholic Club. Picture: Richard Dobson One such meal will be crowned the winner when the competition ends next Sunday. It has led us today to the Campbelltown Catholic Club's Kyubi restaurant, where we are dining on its signature dish – and one of the hot entries in this year's awards – the Schottlanders Wagyu steak. As we savour the tender, medium rare striploin, the conversation turns to the other meaty subject on today's menu – Hindmarsh's record-breaking career at Parramatta. His journey to becoming one of the club's all-time greats began in the backyard of his family's home at Robertson, in the NSW Southern Highlands, where he made the switch from soccer to rugby league at age 12 at the behest of his parents, who feared for the safety of their daughter. 'It was my mum and dad because I kept beating the shit out of my younger sister playing footy in the backyard. I was getting to that age where I was getting too strong for her.'' It was at his junior club, the Moss Vale Dragons, where Hindmarsh was 'discovered'' by then Parramatta talent scout Daniel Anderson, who would later coach Hindmarsh to the 2009 NRL grand final. '(He) came down to watch (former South Sydney prop) Scott Geddes (but) I had a good game and they offered us both a scholarship to Fairfield Pats,'' he recalls. Nathan Hindmarsh received the Jack Gibson trophy in 2012. Picture: AAP Image/Action Photographics, Robb Cox Hindmarsh had a short stint at the college, admitting 'it wasn't for me'', but later trialled for Parramatta SG Ball and made the squad. Rising through the ranks, he made his NRL debut under coach Brian Smith in 1998. A Bulldogs fan growing up, Hindmarsh was suddenly training with his heroes – Jim Dymock, Jarrod McCracken, Jason Smith and Dean Pay, who had joined the Eels during the Super League war. 'That was a massive highlight for me. My first training session, I've walked in and they're all there and they scared the shit out of me. Especially Jimmy and McCracken, they were scary blokes. I was just in awe. I just did what I was told to do and that was it.'' Hindmarsh got his first taste of finals heartbreak later that year, losing to Canterbury in one of the most infamous defeats in Parramatta history – beaten 32-20 in extra time, having led 18-2 with just over 10 minutes to go. Many fans put the loss down to mistakes made by teammate Paul Carige, but Hindmarsh doesn't agree with that view, saying: 'I reckon that's a bit harsh. Everyone made mistakes in that game. He dropped a ball and put his foot on the touch line, and all that sort of stuff, but we had enough of a lead. We blew that as a team.'' More finals torture came the next year, losing to Melbourne after leading 16-0 at halftime. Nathan Hindmarsh is tackled by the strong Newcastle defence in the 2001 NRL grand final. Picture: AAP Image/Dean Lewins But those two losses were just the entree to the main course of finals disappointment for Hindmarsh. In 2001, after a record-breaking point-scoring season, Parramatta went into the decider – the NRL's first night grand final – as red-hot favourites against Newcastle. Ambushed in the first half by the Knights, who streaked out to a 24-0 lead, it proved too difficult for the Eels to rein in, resulting in a devastating 30-24 loss. '2001 for me is the one that got away, with the side we had,'' Hindmarsh laments. 'No disrespect to Newcastle (but) we were a really good side that year, and we stuffed it, we stuffed it on game night … but that's all it takes. Newcastle just got the jump on us and we didn't have enough time to get it back.'' Of his two grand final losses, 2001 'hurts the most'', Hindmarsh admits. Not that he didn't feel the anguish of losing his second – and last – grand final in 2009. That year, a thrilling late season run – on the back of Jarryd Hayne's scintillating form – catapulted the Eels into eighth place before they swept through the semis to face the Storm in the decider. 'The things we saw Haynesy do in that era, you won't see ever again. He was a freak,'' Hindmarsh recalls. 'We talk about other freakish players at the moment, but I think he's still another level above them. When it came to individual brilliance, some of those tries he scored were just phenomenal.'' Nathan Hindmarsh looks dejected after the 2009 NRL grand final loss to the Melbourne Storm. Picture:But it ended in more grand final heartbreak for Hindy. And it was compounded the following year with revelations the Storm had cheated the salary cap in order to field their star-studded team. 'They cheated the cap, they did,'' Hindmarsh says. 'But you can pay a player a million bucks a season, you've still got to play well. 'Yeah, they got to stick together by cheating the cap, but they still had to play well on the day and they played better than us, and that's all there is to it. 'People say do you want the trophy? No, I don't want to be handed something I didn't win. It's all about that feeling when the full time siren goes and embracing those blokes who you busted your arse with all season, that's the feeling you want to have.'' The year after that loss was the only time Hindmarsh came close to leaving the Eels. 'I was pretty much looking at going to the (English) Super League. I was either going to Leeds or St Helens,'' he says. 'I was very close (to leaving). I had a few conversations with my wife, a few conversations with other people who had been over to the Super League. But we decided we were happy to stay and see out my career with the one club.'' In his final year with the Eels, Hindmarsh captained his team to the wooden spoon. 'You captain a club to a spoon, that's something that sits with you, and doesn't sit well,'' he laments. Which leads us to the current crop of Eels and their bid to avoid the spoon in 2025. 'I'm hoping they will (avoid it),'' Hindmarsh says. 'With the Origin period now, losing Mitch Moses and Lomax, two of the better players in the side ... it will be close. 'But hopefully not … we've had a few.'' As for Parramatta's premiership drought, 2026 will mark 40 years since the club last celebrated winning a competition in the golden '80s. But Hindmarsh believes new coach Jason Ryles could be the man to return premiership glory to Parra. 'He's a fresh coach, he's a new coach. He's never been in charge of an NRL side before, so give him a chance,'' he says. 'I think his credentials, who he's been under as an understudy, put him in good stead. 'But it's going to take some time. If you're an Eels fan, you'll understand that. The majority of us do. It's going to be a bit of a rebuilding process. 'I've got full faith in Rylesy that he's going to do it.'' Do you have a story for The Telegraph? Message 0481 056 618 or email tips@
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The Age
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- The Age
Police don't know how many shops are selling illegal tobacco
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