When Kieran Foran took over as interim coach of the Sea Eagles in late March, all Manly fans were looking for was hope.
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They found it in something that felt familiar, and in someone that reminded them of better days.
Of a time when the Sea Eagles were synonymous with success. When Steve Matai was the NRL’s most feared hit man and a different band of brothers were the face of a golden era on the Northern Beaches.
But hope is a dangerous thing, and what began as the feel-good story of the 2026 season has instead largely left the club back where it started.
Sure, there is a new coach and clearly there was a need for it. After all, you don’t go sacking Anthony Seibold just three games into a season if you aren’t confident he is no longer the right man for the job.
He had initially signed up to join his former club as assistant coach, working under Seibold for the next two years.
Instead, just 139 days after his last game as a player, he had been thrown in the deep end; not that Foran saw it that way.
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“Nothing’s been straightforward in my life and my footy career,” he said at the time.
“I’ve had to fight and scrap for every, every inch that I’ve got and I certainly haven’t walked away from challenges just because of the fear, fear of what might be out there.
“I’ve always taken it head on and if I failed, I’ve failed so dear and greatly.”
But Foran was far from a failure, at least early on. In fact, the promotion couldn’t have gone any better had it been penned by a Hollywood script-writer.
Even now, with Manly’s season spiralling out of control and the early success the club had under Foran looking more like the sugar-hit it was first feared to be, his first year at the helm won’t go down as a failure.
It can’t when this isn’t the roster that Foran put together. But soon, Foran will have the chance to right the wrongs of his predecessors.
