NRL: Nathan's earned a prize day

Nathan Hindmarsh is one of the NRL's hardest-working defenders. Tonight he has another chance to win a premiership with the Eels. Photo / Getty Images

You would be hard-pressed finding someone who doesn't like Nathan Hindmarsh. The easygoing second-rower with the trademark tousled hair and crooked grin is an amenable character but it's his character on the field which wins even more admirers.

Tackling is what defines the 30-year-old. He's done it 1055 times this season at an incredible rate of 44 times a game. Last weekend, he flattened Bulldogs players 50 times in the grand final qualifier and if he maintains that rate tonight will become the first person to top 1100 tackles in a season.

It's exhausting work. He once held the world record for the number of tackles in one match with 75 before the Warriors' Micheal Luck topped it with 79 (admittedly in a game that went to extra-time).

Compare that to Wallabies rugby skipper George Smith, who topped the recent Tri Nations tackle count with 86 in his six games. Although the two sports are very different, that's just 14.33 tackles a game.

Hindmarsh has also effected a total of 8791 tackles throughout his 259-game career, on top of the ones he done in his 20 tests for Australia and 16 Origin games for NSW.

"The amount of work he gets through consistently is astonishing," his former coach Michael Hagan told the Daily Telegraph recently. "He does so much work off the ball, diving on loose ball, chasing kick returns. He is extremely good."

Hindmarsh tends to deflect the praise. "I'm just out there doing my job," he has said consistently. What makes it even more remarkable is the fact he's battled arthritis in his right foot since 2007 and often has to forgo training for physiotherapy and massage.

There are many neutrals who want the Eels to win tonight because of Hindmarsh. Retiring Bulldogs winger Hazem El Masri will be barracking for him.

"Everyone who gets on the field in the grand final will have worked hard to get there, but I doubt if there's a player who deserves to come out of that game with a grand final ring more than Nathan Hindmarsh," El Masri said.

Hindmarsh has been a one-club man since his debut in 1998. He is also one of three current Eels players, along with Luke Burt and Nathan Cayless, who played in the 30-24 defeat to the Knights in 2001.

He was just 22 then and admitted later that he thought there would be other chances. The NRL doesn't work like that. It's a demanding competition and some players never get to experience a grand final.

Hindmarsh has also had a number of near misses, like in his first year in 1998 when he was part of an Eels side who led the Bulldogs 18-2 with 11 minutes to go in their preliminary final, only to lose 32-20 in extra time.

There were further preliminary finals in 1999, 2000, 2005 and 2007 but all ended in disappointment.

"You've got to come first once you make the semis otherwise it doesn't count at all - you may as well have been knocked out before the semis had started," Hindmarsh said. "Our goal is to win the grand final, and pretty much nothing else is going to do."

Hindmarsh has picked up plaudits along the way, being named Dally M Second Rower of the Year in 2001, 2004, 2005 and 2006. But there's one prize that would eclipse all others.