It probably wasn't entirely our fault that he didn't develop with us. Remember, he came here on a player swap, as Dessie didn't want him at the Dogs. He'd lost his 'fire' or something like that. That 'fire' didn't come back during his stint in Auckland, although he really should've got more than the literal '15 munutes' of first grade with us.
He was part of our gun reserve grade side. I saw their semi-final at Penrith in the NSW Cup, and I also heard an exasperated bench shout out at him to 'fire up'. He seemed lackadaisical, at a time when we needed some big plays to get back in the game.
The following year, he'd turn up for Blacktown Sea Eagles, to play in nowheresville in front of 40 people, a few dogs and an eccentric who had a cat on his shoulder. Again, 'Laney' seemed to just go through the motions for the most of it. I would think, 'gee, he's fallen hard'. Then, someone picked him for Manly first grade as a result of an injury crisis, perhaps, and first grade's where he's stayed.
He's gone next level at the Eels, and is right back to where he started at the Bulldogs, seen as a potential NSW Blues player.
