Kieran Foran Drives Manly to Four Straight Wins
kieran foran has turned Manly’s season fast. Four straight wins in his first four games as interim coach have carried the club from bottom-four wooden spoon talk into the top eight, and punters have already moved with the run.
The Sea Eagles were under Anthony Seibold in late March when Foran took over, and the change has been immediate on the ladder and in the market. Manly are now $26 for the premiership after opening at $101, while their wooden spoon price has drifted out to $67 after sitting at $4.25 a month earlier.
Manly’s rapid climb
Four wins in a row is the cleanest marker of the turnaround. Foran inherited a side sitting among the wooden spoon favourites, and by the time Manly reached this point they had pushed into the top eight and back into the September mix.
That shift has changed how the club is being priced and discussed. Adrian Bauk said, “Kieran Foran has been the catalyst behind Manly’s remarkable turnaround – four straight wins in his first four games as interim coach have completely transformed the Sea Eagles from wooden spoon contenders into genuine top four contenders,” while also noting, “Punters have well and truly caught on and we’ve seen a big shift in Manly’s premiership price shortening dramatically as customers back the form that’s now putting them right in the mix for September football.”
Walsh gets his first start
The coaching storyline was running alongside a selection call for Sunday night’s game against Penrith at CommBank Stadium. Jamal Fogarty was ruled out with a groin injury, which opened the door for Joey Walsh to make his first NRL start at halfback.
Foran backed the rookie heavily before that match. “(Walsh) is a wonderful student of the game, he works extremely hard. He is a tough kid and is really courageous and competitive,” he said. “He just ticks so many boxes. Without putting too much pressure on him, we have high hopes for Joey's future in this game. We love what he is about.”
Walsh had played 19 minutes off the bench in Manly’s final game of last season, and Foran added, “And (tonight) he gets to go out there and do it. We have all the belief in the world he is going to get out there and get the job done.” The club’s longer-term call on Foran was expected by the halfway point of the season, but the case for handing him the job full-time was already being made by the results and the market.
