Eels move to lock up Lane with new three-year deal

Parramatta have tabled Shaun Lane an upgraded three-year offer as the towering back-rower allayed fears he could be leaving the club at the end of 2020.

pan66.com can reveal the Eels have come to the party with a new deal for the 25-year-old in recent weeks, who hopes to have his long-term future sorted before the start of the season.

Lane created a stir late last month when he went public with frustrations that contract negotiations with the Eels had dragged out over the summer.

It's understood he has met with the Dragons recently amid interest from several NRL rivals, though Lane declined to comment on any potential suitors.

The 198cm forward said on Monday that he is edging closer to a resolution and could happily see himself in blue and gold beyond 2020.

"I'm not going anywhere this season," Lane told pan66.com.

"I really do love it here and I love the players and the staff and the feel around the place. I'm all in for this season, and whatever happens after that happens. I'll sort that out in the next few weeks.

"I'm definitely not saying I'm leaving. It's just a matter of a process that I've got to go through.

"I'll leave the contracts and all the negotiations and that up to my management. When the time comes and all offers are on the table, I'll sit down and have a look at what my options are.

"I've instructed my manager that I want that done before the season so I can concentrate on my football."

Parramatta have been busy on the retention front since their finals run in 2019, re-signing key figures Dylan Brown, Maika Sivo and Michael Jennings.

Oregon Kaufusi, Brad Takairangi, Marata Niukore, David Gower, Ray Stone and Andrew Davey have also been handed extensions, but Lane remains off-contract at the end of 2020.

Rather than raising Brad Arthur's ire for his public comments, Lane said the Eels coach had seen where he was coming from, and reassured him he was very much a part of Parramatta's long-term plans.

"BA's always supportive of his players and he's always up front with everything," Lane said.

"The fact was Parra were a little bit slow with negotiations, and he was actually a little bit, not apologetic, but he saw my side of it.

"He had a bit of empathy for me, and he said the club is going to work with my management from now to try and get something sorted.

"They've put in an offer since then, my management told me about that so it's just a matter of waiting to see my other options and we're working through that."

Lane arrived at Parramatta at the start of last year from Manly, and ended the year with the Jack Gibson coach's award as the club's best forward.

He sees his best football as potentially putting him in the conversation for a NSW Origin call-up in the future, but is under no illusion about his place in coach Brad Fittler's back-row pecking order.

"I'd like to continue playing as many games as I can, I only missed one last year with my finger, I'd like to be a consistent 80-minute player and hopefully I can push myself into that Origin conversation," Lane said.

"I'm not expecting anything like a call from Freddie or anything. All I can do is play as well as I can, my attitude is that if it comes, it comes ... there's obviously a stacked back row for NSW and there's players that have really earned their positions and they've gone back-to-back too.

"So you can't expect mass changes, I'm of the mindset that it would really have to be earned and that's what I will go out and try to do."

The finger injury Lane refers to was a severed artery and nerve in his finger, which he suffered while trying to pry out an avocado seed with a butter knife for his pre-game breakfast.

"It's still a little bit numb, I don't think I'm ever going to get full feeling back in it but that's what happens when you mess with an avocado," Lane said of his recovery from 2019's strangest injury.

"I confronted my fears straight away. I was still wearing my cast, and I'm chopping open an avo and I nailed it, so no more issues with them hopefully."