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3 months ago
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Parramatta's coach and captain celebrated their win over the Sharks on Thursday night by cracking jokes about one of their star players being dumb - even though he's studying for a masters degree.
Star halfback Mitch Moses made a sparkling return from a lengthy lay-off with a broken foot on Thursday, starring in an upset 34-22 win over Cronulla that will give Parramatta a glimmer of hope that they can achieve something this year.
It comes a week after the club sacked 11-year coach Brad Arthur in a failed bid to poach supercoach Wayne Bennett, who ultimately signed with South Sydney.
The Eels also welcomed back skipper Clint Gutherson also returned from injury and was instrumental in the win.
During the post-match media conference, Parramatta coach Trent Barrett was asked about Shaun Lane, whose role has changed in recent weeks with the forward now coming off the bench to play in the middle of the park.
Barrett was asked about Lane's new duties and his reduced minutes - and the resulting exchange was bizarre.
Interim Parramatta Eels coach Trent Barrett and captain Clint Gutherson share a giggle after they were asked about Shaun Lane's new role
Lane (pictured carrying the ball against Cronulla) now comes off the bench to play limited minutes in the middle of the park for the Eels
'When we can get 80 minutes out of [back rowers] Kelma [Tuilagi] and Carty [Bryce Cartwright] it frees us up to do a few things with our bench,' Barrett said.
'And just with Laney, it takes all the thinking out of him by throwing him in the middle. He's a big body and that's how he can help us.'
Fox League's Lara Pitt then asked: 'Why is that funny?'
'No comment,' Gutherson replied.
'Very intelligent man Laney,' Barrett said with a chuckle just as the press conference ended.
While Barrett and Gutherson thought the exchange was hilarious, insinuations Lane is not intelligent could not be further from the truth.
The forward is juggling his NRL career with study, completing masters in positive psychology degree at the University of Melbourne.
Lane won the Ken Thornett Medal as Parramatta's Player of the Year in 2022 and 2023 while juggling university studies at the same time
Lane has produced his own documentary on mental health where he has spoken about his father's battle with depression and his good mate Kurt Drysdale (pictured together), who suffered a catastrophic spinal injury that left him paraplegic
It comes after he has already completed a graduate diploma in psychology at the University of NSW and an undergraduate diploma in health sciences at Sydney University.
He also released his first full documentary this year, Out of My Lane. The production is a highly personal account that sees a range of athletes and experts talk about mental health - including Socceroos captain Mat Ryan.
The documentary gets emotional and raw, including Lane recalling the time he heard his father talking on the phone about wanting to end his life when he was just a child.
He also speaks about childhood friend Kurt Drysdale, who suffered a catastrophic spinal injury that left him paraplegic in the same week Lane made his NRL debut.
'You can overlook how lucky you are,' Lane said.
'What happened to Kurt is part of my story that I look to; that really makes me feel grateful for the things that I do because it's so emotional for me and so relevant to a whole bunch of things about my life.
'When I talk about the contrast in that week of my debut, it gets me every time. Everything just comes down to chance.'
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