Shaun "Exit" Lane mega thread.

[Mitch]

I hope we havnt signed Sironen on big $ long term yet ,Happy for Lane to slot in there .

It’s done mate. To be announced once the salary cap issue is resolved, so probably next year some time.

 

[Chip and Chase]

Lane showed a bit of his oft reputed potential last night. Needs to consistently deliver those sort of performances before i’m becoming a card carrying member of his fan club.

 

[Simonmyers11]

Good game from him. Strong carries

 

[Althewomanspal]

I think he looked a better coming off the bench and playing in the middle. Him and tanginoa were great. If AFB controls his discipline our middle 4 rotation is looking solid.

 

[HoldenV8]

Playing Lane as a front rower was probably the best coaching move Barrett did before and during the game. It forced him to be involved, he couldn't be lazy and hide out on the edges.

It seemed to bring out something close to his best. I hope we see a hell of a lot more of it.

 

[HoldenV8]

I've said this in a couple of threads, but will say it here.

It seems to me that Barrett moving him to the front row is the best thing that could have happened to Shaun Lane, football wise. As a back rower he has a tendency to be lazy. He sometimes hides out on the edges and doesn't get involved as often as he could or should, often running more decoys than running the ball. But in the middle he is forced to get involved because there is nowhere to hide. He has to take hit ups and he has to get involved in defence and that allows him (and the team) to use his 6'6", 115kg frame and his skills to best advantage.

According to the stats on NRL.com, in two games off the bench as a front rower Lane has so far had 3 offloads, made 30 tackles with an 80.4% efficiency, has run for a total of 255 metres (averaging 127.5), made one line break and scored one try. Compare this to 2017 when his best stats across 9 games read like 4 offloads, 3 line breaks, 3 line break assists and 2 tries.

So far I'd have Shaun Lane the prop over Shaun Lane the 2nd rower in my team any day.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

He was a machine through the middle yesterday. I feel a tad sorry for blokes who can't get into our team at the moment but you can't begrudge the ones who are there, they've grabbed their chance and none more so than Lane.

 

[tookey]

He has finally found his position as prop Hard to stop and gets through his defence well

That was our best 17 yesterday

 

[Freagle]

Holdenv8, I was about to post a thread saying exactly this, but you beat me to it - I couldn't agree more, the way he steps through tackles and is surprisingly dominant in the rough stuff is testimony to the fact he is much better off when he stays involved. He can still run good lines one pass off the ruck, so can make use of his speed and footwork, but he hasn't been shirking the hard hit-ups either. I am both happy and surprised he is going so well there.

 

[lurker]

He has finally found his position as prop Hard to stop and gets through his defence well

That was our best 17 yesterday

Dylan walker. Other than that yes I agree

 

[HoldenV8]

He was a machine through the middle yesterday. I feel a tad sorry for blokes who can't get into our team at the moment but you can't begrudge the ones who are there, they've grabbed their chance and none more so than Lane.

Yeah you have to feel a bit for guys like Gosiewski and even Frank Winterstein. Jack scored 4 tries on Saturday and probably thought that he would be a good chance at first grade against his old club next week.....then the NRL pack comes out and completely dominates doesn't-matta in one of the most powerhouse performances I've seen in a long time.

Lane is so much more effective in the middle of the park where he has to stay involved, and Tanginoa, while a bit quieter yesterday than last week, has done nothing wrong other than finding out the hard way not to butt heads with Kapow. And then there was Perrett who came back to first grade with a bang.

 

[manly al]

Now the issue is can Manly retain all of these capable middle forwards presently off contract after 2018 , in Lane , Tanga , Darcy and Paseka . Be really good if they can .

 

[lurker]

I find it hilarious that all the “experts” were knocking our depth. There’s a real competition for spots at the moment and I personally don’t have a problem with the depth of our squad at all

 

[HoldenV8]

The only place we really don't have quality depth is the halves. Outside of DCE, Croker and Hastings we are rather short there.

Though I did notice yesterday when Croker was off that Hastings still played dummy half while Api moved to 5/8......

 

[manly al]

The only place we really don't have quality depth is the halves. Outside of DCE, Croker and Hastings we are rather short there.

Though I did notice yesterday when Croker was off that Hastings still played dummy half while Api moved to 5/8......

That was interesting and i noticed that as well. Also I would not discount Tom Wright being considered as a ist grade 5 /8 this season if the circumstances required it .

 

[HoldenV8]

Other than form or injury which is always a possibility, the only other thing would be if Cherry got picked for Origin. And regardless what form he's in, he's probably 5th in line there behind Morgan, Munster, Milford and Hunt.

About the only Qld half he seems to be in front of in the pecking order is Norman who was pathetic at best yesterday.

They talked up DCE when he was the form half before Origin last year, then proceeded to pick Milford, Munster and Hunt in front of him. And Hunt had actually been dropped to Qld Cup a few weeks before and had only been back in first grade for about 2 weeks come Game 3. No matter how well he plays for Manly I feel that he'll only get picked again if they have an injury crisis. Even now with Morgan out injured and seemingly for a while, they'll give him every chance before considering DCE and would probably go for Hunt or even put out an SOS to Cronk first.

 

[Eagles2nv]

Though I did notice yesterday when Croker was off that Hastings still played dummy half while Api moved to 5/8......

I noticed that too.

Given that we were steamrolling them, and baz knew croker was coming back on, he stuck to the original game plan and held Hastings in position.

 

[HoldenV8]

Which obviously worked very well.

 

[Ryan]

At the ground live, it was Lane that got us the early roll ons. The guy was in beast mode, and didn't take a backward step.

 

[Dee Why Eagle]

Bulldogs must be ruing some of the players they let go (not just Lane)