#KiwiNRL The Kieran Foran Saga
Call it the Kieran Foran saga; it's been going on for longer than a week or two and there's no end in sight. When Foran signed with Parramatta, everyone assumed that things would be a bunch of roses, that Foran would be the man to help steer Parramatta towards a future that was looking fairly positive even before Foran's signature was sealed.
All it took was a few injuries and Foran's Parramatta career was already looking scratchy. Let's completely ignore the shambles that Parramatta's boardroom was (may still be) and focus on Foran, as the shambles of Parramatta didn't cause Foran's injuries, nor did they cause Foran to hang out with folks who appear to have led Foran down a very weird path. Foran was there with Roger Tuivasa-Sheck as two prime examples of why fans, media and NRL clubs should keep a lid on expectations as they were both hailed as monumental signings, yet they both had their 2016 seasons hampered by injury with only half of the season gone.
That's where the small similarities between Tuivasa-Sheck and Foran stop though. Tuivasa-Sheck buggered his knee and was ruled out for the season, while Foran appeared to be suffering from constant niggles led by a hammy and shoulder complaint. Foran was handed a breach notice by Parramatta for not showing up to injury rehab sessions and given that Foran came back to play, only for a shoulder issue that was already there to worsen, would give the Eels and their fans plenty to whinge about.
Your star signing is consistently battling injury, his off-field life is a mess and he's simply not taking all the steps possible to ensure that he comes back fully fit.
That's why Foran had to step down from the NRL. It's rough to expect a bloke who's dealing with issues like Foran's, to do all he can as a professional athlete to honour his club. Some deal with that off-field adversity by putting their head down in their sport and finding refuge in their athletic endeavours - an escape. Some find their off-field adversity impacting their sporting work and need to step away from professional sport. Neither is right or wrong, it's merely a case of different strokes for different folks.
Up to this point in the story, it all sounds like another dramatic NRL yarn. Nothing new, not ideal, but all part of the NRL package that we all love. Then came a piece from the Sydney Morning Herald that connected the dots between Foran's association with Eddie Hayson and subsequently, some shady Sydney underworld shenanigans. Hayson is apparently a gambling aficionado and the SMH breaks down a web of money changing hands, weird connections between a weird group of people and ultimately, a few NRL games that were being investigated for some sort of match-fixing.
The SMH did an excellent job with this piece and my mind was flooded with a bunch of interesting notes/thoughts regarding the situation, which all came under the umbrella of this being a horrible look for Foran.
Who knows the extent of Foran's relationship with these people, or what he's actually done, I'm not here to speculate on that. Just ponder that this is a bloke who's situation at home is out of order, who is battling demons within himself, is often injured and might enjoy gambling a bit too much ... and he's associating himself with people who appear to bring trouble with them. Regardless of what Foran's done, he's in a horrible situation and is calling on Sydney's underworld as his homies. I just can't see that as the ideal situation, ya feel me?
Throughout all of this there has been constant speculation about who Foran will return to the NRL with. Along with NRL clubs blatantly lying to you and I, one of the certainties of the NRL is that NRL player agents, players and NRL clubs leak information to the media and then hide behind the media. Speculation has been rife of Foran returning to Manly and joining the Bulldogs, whether these yarns have been made up by the media because they kinda make sense or whether they have been leaked by an agent or club, who knows. I just know that if I were Foran, I wouldn't be going anywhere near the NRL right now, which makes this all so weird.
And then the New Zealand Warriors popped up, apparently offering a year deal to Foran.
Getting Foran out of Sydney, away from the media and his associates is a great idea, especially as Jim Doyle appears to have a fabulous relationship with pretty much every Kiwis player he worked with during his time at the NZRL. Seriously, Doyle brought Tuivasa-Sheck and Issac Luke over and now Foran? Doyle must make a mean cup of tea or something because he's got these Kiwis blokes wrapped around his pinky.
I just can't see how signing Foran for a year and possibly more, is beneficial to the Warriors. Foran is definitely a gun and one of the best halves in the NRL, he'd make any NRL side better but he's going to miss at least five games a season and while Foran may benefit from getting out of Sydney, let's not assume that the circus would stop with Foran joining the Warriors. The Australian media won't suddenly chill out because Foran's here and the kiwi mainstream media won't exactly leave Foran alone either, Foran could bring with him some baggage, Foran will definitely bring crazy expectations to a club that's never dealt with expectation well.
Foran's arrival would shut the door on Tuimoala Lolohea and Ata Hingano, two young Warriors halves who are set to take the club forward with Shaun Johnson. Johnson stated a week or so ago that Lolohea would be his halves partner and in the same week as Lolohea getting dropped, the club is in the news talking to Foran. Right now, I see more upside over the next three years in keeping Lolohea (and Hingano) than signing Foran. Heaven forbid how Warriors fans would feel if Foran fizzled as a Warrior and Lolohea or Hingano was forced out, going on to greater heights in Australia.
All we can do now is watch as this story plays out and to be honest, I don't want to hear anything about it. When Foran stepped away from the NRL, everyone said that Foran needs to solely worry about getting himself sorted, making sure that everything off the field was in line yet we've heard far too much about Foran in that time. We've also learned more about the company that Foran keeps, which shows no signs of slowing down and that's a major concern for Foran.
Are the Warriors fully aware of the shenanigans taking place around Foran?
Who knows who is driving all this noise about Foran, it's just not what you'd expect in a situation like his where he clearly needs to suss everything out first and foremost. Foran's a kiwi cuzzy and I'm worried, not even close to being convinced that Foran is ready to step back into the manic world of the NRL, whether that's in Australia or Aotearoa.