It will be a case of not allowing history to repeat itself in the space of a few weeks according to forward Shaun Lane heading into Sunday’s clash against the Gold Coast Titans.
The Sea Eagles go into the match at a sold out Marley Brown Oval in Gladstone following a 32-16 win over the Canberra Raiders at Lottoland last Saturday night.
It was a strong turnaround by Trent Barrett’s men who were determined to make amends for a disappointing 34-6 loss to Souths the previous week that came on the back of a 54-0 win over Parramatta at Lottoland in round two.
The Sea Eagles take on a Titans side fresh from their second win of the season following a 26-14 win over the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium last Sunday. Seven days earlier, the Titans lost 54-8 to St George-Illawarra.
Lane says the team is mindful of what happened against Souths and must turn in another strong effort against the Titans.
“It was night and day between our performance against Souths, so hopefully we can be more consistent and put up those type of performances (against Canberra) more often,’’ Lane said.
“The Titans had a good win against Brisbane. There is no easy games in the competition. A few people are probably sleeping on them which isn’t good, and you can’t do that in the NRL.
“You saw what happened to us against Souths.
“We came out and we weren’t switched on, and they just rolled us straight through the middle, so we need to be switched on (against the Titans).”
Lane says his team-mates used the adversity from a tough week for the club following the salary cap determination from the NRL to really lift against Canberra.
“It always helps when you can draw motivation from something like that, and have extra reason heading into a game to really get up for a performance,’’ Lane added.
“There the wins that really will stand out once you sit down and think about it at the end of your career, when you had all these players out, or your backs were up against the wall.”
With season ending knee injuries to forwards Curtis Sironen and Kelepi Tanginoa, there is an opportunity now for Lane, Frank Winterstein, and Jack Gosiewski to try to secure a starting place in the strong Manly pack. Lane has been solid in all four games for Manly this season.
"I'm devastated for both of them," Lane said.
"Siro has a long history with injuries so it'll be hard on both of them. For it to be so early in the season too and cop an injury like that is not good.
"We do have depth in our squad so whatever role I'm called upon to do in the team I can fill.
"I can play middle and on the edge, so whatever ‘Baz’ wants me to do I'm happy to do it.
"But they are still a hard pair to replace. ‘Siro’ had such a great year last year and started well again this year. Kelepi has come out of the woodwork this year and running over blokes like only he can do.
“We have plenty of quality throughout the whole squad. We have blokes like Frank Winterstein who played the whole year last year in the starting back-row and he has managed to only get one game this year.”
Match: Titans v Sea Eagles
Round 5 -
home Team
Titans
6th Position
away Team
Sea Eagles
8th Position
Venue: Marley Brown Oval, Gladstone