Parramatta's tower of power Shaun Lane says the electric Eels are surging following a 53-6 demolition over the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium on Thursday night.
Lane ran riot on Parramatta’s left edge, bullocking for 153 metres with 13 tackle busts, four offloads and a try assist, line break and line break assist to keep the Eels’ top four hopes alive heading into the final round of the regular season.
Even when Lane did not have the ball in hand, his considerable presence produced panic in the Brisbane defensive line and created time and space for playmaker Dylan Brown, captain Clint Gutherson and two-try centre Tom Opacic.
Lane was in the right place, at the right time, more often than not — a bit like the Eels in general, who cruised to their 15th win of 2022 ahead of next Thursday’s clash with Melbourne which may determine a top four spot.
“We have full confidence we can take it to any team if we turn up with the right attitude and we’ll take that confidence into the finals this year,’’ Lane said.
“The back end of last year, we came off a few big losses which hurt the confidence in the group but we still fronted up in the finals and took it to a few teams.
The Lane-train coming through
“We learned it’s not about what’s happened, it’s about being in the moment and sticking to the game plan.
“We did that pretty well in the first half but after halftime we started trying to force the pass and got away from what was working for us. We were able to get back on track and the floodgates opened and we put a decent total on them.’’
Lane played down his significant contribution to Parramatta’s, saying it was just one of “those nights”.
“This year my responsibilities have been increased and we are attacking more on my edge. Dylan’s (Brown) form has been good too so him playing well puts me in a lot of space,’’ Lane said.
“You have those nights sometimes and I just found myself in good positions. Some nights you struggle to make any metres and you don’t get any tackle busts but I tried to make the most of my opportunities tonight after the good work of others around me.’’
Eels coach Brad Arthur said the match-up with Melbourne was his only focus and the finals could wait a week. He was happy with Parramatta’s defensive effort against Brisbane and said Lane was hitting his straps.
“He was pretty good. Laney, he’s probably our most reliable player at the moment. Every week he is doing his job and he takes a lot of pressure off Dylan (Brown) and gives a lot of confidence to Dylan to do his job,’’ Arthur said.
Eels: Round 24