Parramatta second-rower Shaun Lane interviewed a range of people for his very personal documentary on mental health to be released on Thursday, from professional darts players to sports psychologists used at some of Europe’s leading football clubs.
It was Socceroos goalkeeper Mat Ryan, however, who came up with the succinct creed for every athlete to live by.
“Never be too up, never get too down,” Ryan, who plays for AZ Alkmaar in the Eredivisie league in the Netherlands, tells Lane as the pair sit in an Amsterdam cafe.
You suspect that would be rather difficult for a professional athlete, whose singular job title is to get as high as possible, winning everything that’s on offer for as long as they can before their bodies fail them and they retire.
Yet sports psychologists, who are entrenched in every club, are starting to drill home a new mantra to players: don’t focus on the outcome.
In other words, forget about the result. Somewhere in the world, Cameron Smith and Andrew Johns just choked on their cornflakes.
Socceroos Mat Ryan being interviewed by Shaun Lane. CREDIT: PARRAMATTA EELS
But Lane is a believer, which is something you wouldn’t expect from a Parramatta player, many of whom carry the weight of grand final heartache every time they take the field. Retired back-rower Nathan Hindmarsh maintains “a piece of me is missing” after never winning a grand final.
Lane once thought along these lines. Most players do. But his focus has shifted and he is better for it.
“You end up thinking, ‘OK, winning is the most important thing,’” Lane explained in an interview with this masthead. “Then it just becomes devastating to your happiness, or the things you’re doing in your life, if you have a loss on the weekend. And then, if you get a win, everyone’s over the moon and super happy and excited. It’s just really unhealthy. It’s like bipolar, mate.”
Lane has long been a mental health advocate for the Eels, having completed a graduate diploma in psychology at the University of NSW and undergraduate diploma in health sciences at Sydney University. He is currently doing his masters in positive psychology.
Meanwhile, the Eels have made mental health one of their social impact pillars. They are the only club in the NRL that has accredited mental health representatives at every level, from junior leagues to the NRL.
Lane wonders how he would’ve coped if not for his studies after the last two seasons. He was being hailed the game’s in-form edge forward and earmarked as a NSW Origin certainty one minute, cut down by three injuries the next.
The Eels’ 2022 preliminary final victory over North Queensland in Townsville was his finest hour. Parramatta crashed and burned in the grand final against Penrith. It got worse: last year, he was restricted to 10 games after fracturing his jaw, tearing his hamstring and dislocating his elbow.
He’d been planning a trip to Europe during the off-season, but the enforced layoff prompted him to pitch his documentary, in which he spoke to a range of athletes and experts, throughout Europe.
The project led him to the training grounds of Barcelona FC, the Rugby World Cup, Crystal Palace, and Paris Saint-Germain.
He also interviewed some of the world’s best darts players before one tournament, including Australian gun Damon Heta who spoke to the importance of enjoying the moment.
“I played my best darts when I was being a clown in front of everyone,” Heta says in one humorous observation.
The documentary is also confronting, with Lane becoming emotional on two occasions.
The first is when he is talking about his father, Jeff, who has suffered from a major depressive disorder for most his life. Lane recalls a harrowing moment when, as a nine-year-old, he overheard his father talking on the phone about wanting to end his life.
Parramatta forward Shaun Lane has continued his mental health advocacy with a documentary on the issue. CREDIT: NICK MOIR
The second comes when he talks about Kurt Drysdale, with whom he attended Endeavour Sports High in Sydney’s south and was inseparable growing up as both boys chased their rugby league dreams.
In the same week in 2015 that Lane made his NRL debut with Canterbury, Drysdale suffered a catastrophic spinal injury that left him paraplegic.
“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.”
Back to not worrying about “outcomes” — what does coach Brad Arthur think of that? Those cutaway shots to him in the coaches’ box during matches suggests he is very much focussed on “outcomes”.
“Brad’s become more progressive over the years about who he receives different help from,” Lane said. “He’s currently working with a leadership coach who discusses the same elements.
“You find the teams that perform the best now are the ones where everyone’s just happy and content at all times but not to a ridiculous degree, regardless of whether they win or they lose.”
A simplistic view is professional footballers don’t have much to complain about. The theory goes they all get paid life-changing money (which is a myth) to play the game they love to the adoration of fans (which is an even bigger myth).
It beats digging a ditch for a living ...
A more realistic take is they are playing one of the most scrutinised sports in the country, are subjected to torrents of abuse on social media because they cost someone the final leg in their multi-bet, and can have their careers cut down by injuries at any moment. Most players take the field each week in varying degrees of pain because of an injury.
Then they have the likelihood of CTE from concussions to deal with in retirement. Their careers come at a price.
“Oh, mate, there’s so much you sacrifice,” Lane said. “But if you do it correctly, which is the way that I think I’ve done it, it could be used for some really powerful things in your life. They way I see it is, it’s a platform to boost myself into the life that I want to live. Not just the life that I want to live.
“And it’s not me standing at the top of the podium.”
Out of my Lane will be aired on Parramatta’s digital channels and on 9Now on Friday night. Then after The Footy Show on Nine on Sunday.
