Kieran Foran's time at Aotearoa Warriors 2017 was rather shambolic. Even going back to when it became public knowledge that the Warriors and Foran may join forces, that joining of forces never actually eventuated. Upon reflecting on 2017 and Foran's tenure as a Warrior, so much went wrong for the Warriors in Stephen Kearney's first season in charge that the general Foran situation was merely a part of the shambles and not the reason for the shambles.

All is well, that ends all good. While there's obviously a bad taste left from 2017 with regards to both the Warriors and Foran, the winds of change could only blow through Mt Smart and tinker with the foundational fabric of the Warriors, because of what happened in 2017. When pondering about Foran, I've come to sit in a position of contentment and gratitude as the club and Foran currently sit in better positions than they did during 2017.

It's easy to see the positive impact 2017 has had on Foran. Sure, I reckon the Warriors are a better team than the Bulldogs, but the fact that Foran is playing footy in 2018 is a big W. Foran is closer to his children, appears to be in a good head space and has his life back on track; had Foran not come to Auckland when he did, there's a high chance he would not have got back on track as quickly as he has.

Ask anyone with an opinion about the Warriors though and it's a murky ol' yarn.

I can see how many folk would be negative when reflecting on Foran's time with the Warriors, to the point where I don't think it's worth trying to convince them otherwise. You either go through life looking at things through a positive or negative lens and with the Foran situation, there's a reasonably genuine case to whack on those Negative Ned goggles to grizzle about 2017.

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Without 2017, without Foran coming to the club, we would not be where we are now as fans of the Warriors.

I grizzled at the time, about Foran's arrival stunting the growth of Ata Hingano and based on events that followed, this was apparently never an issue for the decision-makers at the Warriors. This was however based on the premise that Hingano needed multiple seasons of NRL footy to come close to his best, as most young players do and (as I thought before, now confirmed with the benefit of hindsight) that Shaun Johnson didn't need a young half alongside him, he needed a organiser to control and compose.

For Hingano to get to that level, naturally it would take time. I was all good with building towards that, yet the 'win now' decision was made and that is also a worthy path to explore.

The 'win now' decision wasn't to sign Foran, it was to sign Blake Green.

Signing Foran brought with it all sorts of hype and noise about having the Kiwis spine, thus offering more reasons for people - especially Aussie media - to hype up the Warriors. No one took the time to kick back and suss out that Foran was simply not the same player, he was at the Warriors to get back into footy and not exactly lead a team to glory. Plus, his time at Parramatta and to some extent his life, was derailed by injuries.

The expectations of Foran's arrival (Kiwis spine etc) and signing a guy who is battling to salvage his career and is also severely injury prone, don't match up.

So why would the Warriors bother? I don't think the Warriors had much to lose and again, all is well that ends all good.

The Warriors spent minimal money on Foran, so there were no notable financial implications. Foran being injury prone enabled the Warriors to give Hingano and Mason Lino game time. The Warriors also just did something nice for Foran and depending on your beliefs, karma is tangible.

Given that 2017 was also Stephen Kearney's first season in charge and that there were major changes in the leadership of the club as Jim Doyle slid into the shadows with Cameron George taking over ... and that Brian Smith came on board as the football overlord ... oh and that Alex Corvo and numerous players were brought to the club to fix very specific areas of weakness; I'm of the belief that 2017 was a year to learn, to identify and to then get busy fixing.

That's not to say that 2017 was a write off. I find it rather logical to suggest that the problems at the Warriors were so deeply entrenched in the club's DNA, that it took a season to figure everything out. This also happened to be Kearney's first year as coach and the quality/quantity of changes made paint a pretty clear picture of identifying and fixing.

With that in mind, signing Foran didn't really matter too much. Hindsight leads us to believe that Foran wasn't going to help the Warriors do anything of note in 2017 and based on what we know about the Warriors problems, hindsight also leads me to believe that the Warriors were never going to do anything in 2017. Not until those winds of change blew a gust or 27 through Mt Smart.

Hingano was collateral damage and much like Foran/Warriors, Hingano and the Warriors sit in decent spots after their break up. As much as I like Hingano's skillset, he is not the type of player who will bring the best out of Shaun Johnson and while he could blossom into a wonderful half, he is not a 'win now' half for the Warriors - bringing the best out of Johnson is part of the 'win now' package.

Canberra Raiders present an opportunity for Hingano to seal his future as an NRL half for the next few years. It seems as though they will bid Blake Austin and/or Aiden Sezer ka kite in the near future and Hingano is likely to get the consistent crack that he deserves. That consistent crack won't result in the Raiders being a consistent top-8 team this year, or next year however.

This isn't about whether you prefer Hingano or Green as players. This is about two players who are at opposite ends of the career spectrum and which of those players is better suited to helping the Warriors compete at a high level right now. Hingano may have a higher ceiling, yet Green has experience, life experience, experience playing alongside dominant halves such as Cooper Cronk and Daly Cherry-Evans; experience perfect for Johnson.

The 2017, Foran x Warriors chapter should be remembered as the point at which the Warriors ushered in a new era. When going through such drastic change, shit can get crazy and shit usually gets super crazy just before it gets better. Reflecting on 2017, it feels like one of Brandon Stark's vision trips he has in Game of Thrones where he is taken through the history (and future??) of GoT matters swiftly and painfully, then he opens his eyes, gasping for air, back in reality. Ready to get busy doing whatever Bran is going to do to save Westeros.

2017 was that vision trip, with carnage and craziness moving quickly through your mind. Foran's time at the Warriors is a couple of images in that montage, along with Johnson getting injured, Manu Vatuvei being fare-welled, that ugly loss to the Dragons, Tohu Harris' face popping up, Ben Matulino leaving, Alex Corvo rising up like the Night's King, Sam Lisone taking an air-swing at the droppie and a whole lot more.

Breathe. Things are all good right now, we survived and hopefully we won't go back.

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Peace and love 27.