Kieran Foran

Kieran Foran

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Foran during 2013 World Cup
Personal information
Nickname	Foz
Born	(1990-07-13) 13 July 1990 Auckland, New Zealand
Height	180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	90 kg (14 st 2 lb)
Playing information
Position	Five-eighth, Halfback
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2009–15	Manly-Warringah	147	34	4	0	144
2016–	Parramatta Eels	0	0	0	0	0
	Total	147	34	4	0	144
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2009–15	New Zealand	20	1	0	0	4
2013–15	NRL All Stars	2	0	0	0	0
As of 22 September 2015
Source:

Kieran Foran (born 13 July 1990) is a professional rugby league footballer who currently plays for the Parramatta Eels in the National Rugby League. A New Zealand national and NRL All Stars representative five-eighth, Foran previously played for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, with whom he won the 2011 NRL Premiership. Foran is the current vice-captain of the New Zealand Kiwis international rugby league team and has, in 2013, captained the Kiwis twice. Foran also played in New Zealand's 2014 Four Nations winning side.

Background

Born in Auckland, New Zealand, Foran went to Ellerslie Primary School and played for the Ellerslie Eagles before his family moved to Australia. Foran attended St Ives North Primary School and then went on to attend Marist College North Shore, alongside friend and future Sydney Roosters player Mitchell Pearce. Foran played his junior football, for Norths Juniors District clubs Asquith Magpies and North Sydney Brothers. Foran is the younger brother of Cessnock Goannas player Liam Foran. In 2007, Foran represented the Australia Schoolboy rugby league team. Foran played in the North Sydney Bears Harold Matthews Cup and SG Ball teams before being signed by NRL club, the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. Foran played in the Sea Eagles NYC team in 2008-2009.

Playing career

2009

In early 2009, Foran was promoted to Manly's full-time squad and toured England with their World Club Challenge team. Foran became Sea Eagle number 526 when he made his first grade NRL debut in Round 15 against the Canberra Raiders, starting at five-eighth and scoring a try in Manly's 20-14 win at Brookvale Oval. On 6 August 2009, Foran was named in the 45-man New Zealand Kiwis training squad for the 2009 Rugby League Four Nations. On 26 August, Foran publicly declared that he would represent New Zealand, making himself ineligible for Australia and State of Origin for New South Wales. Foran finished his debut year in the NRL with him playing in 9 matches and scoring 6 tries for the Sea Eagles in the 2009 NRL season. On 2 September 2009, Foran was named on the interchange bench in the 2009 NYC Team of the Year. On 7 November 2009, Foran become Kiwi number 757 when he made his test debut playing in the centres in New Zealand's 12-20 loss to England at Alfred McAlpine Stadium. This was Foran's only match in the 2009 Four Nations tournament.

2010

Following Matt Orford's departure before the start of the 2010 Season, Foran started at halfback in Manly's Round 1 clash against the Wests Tigers in the Sea Eagles 26-22 loss at ANZ Stadium. The following week, when Trent Hodkinson came into the starting line-up to make his NRL debut at halfback in Round 2 against the Parramatta Eels, Foran moved back to five-eighth and captain Jamie Lyon was forced back into the centres in Manly's 24-20 loss at Parramatta Stadium. After a strong start to the 2010 NRL season for the Sea Eagles, Foran was rewarded with selection at halfback for New Zealand in the 2010 ANZAC Test which played at Melbourne's new stadium AAMI Park, with captain Benji Marshall playing on his outside as five-eighth. Despite the 12-8 loss, Foran produced a strong performance and was being heavily considered as New Zealand's halfback for the 2010 Four Nations. However Foran picked-up a shoulder injury near the end of the 2010 NRL season resulted him to have shoulder surgery which had ruled him out for the entire tournament. Foran played in 23 matches and scored 4 tries for the Sea Eagles.

2011

File:Kieran Foran 2011.png

Foran playing for Manly in 2011

In the early rounds of the 2011 NRL season, Foran was rewarded with selection at halfback inside of Benji Marshall at five-eighth for the annual ANZAC Test match against Australia at Gold Coast's Cbus Super Stadium. In the game, he set up the final try of the game to team-mate Lance Hohaia, however Australia won the game 20-10. Heading into Round 17 of the 2011 NRL season, Foran was trailing North Queensland Cowboys captain Johnathan Thurston by six votes when voting for the Dally M Medal went behind closed doors. But soon after, Thurston suffered a knee injury in the third State of Origin game and during his absence Foran has produced some man-of-the-match awards to seemingly catch up. But Foran was suspended following his role in the brawl against Melbourne in Round 25 in Manly's 18-4 win at Brookvale Oval, ruling him ineligible for that year's medal. After Foran's one match suspension, he helped taking Manly to the 2011 NRL grand final. On 2 October 2011, Foran played five-eighth in the Sea Eagles' 24-10 win over the New Zealand Warriors in the grand final in front of 81,988 at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney. Kieran was unlucky not to be among Manly's try scorers on the day after he was denied a try by the video referee in the 55th minute of the game when an apparent try was ruled to be a knock-on after slow motion replays. Foran finished the Sea Eagles successful season with him playing in 26 matches and scoring 8 tries. After the 2011 grand final victory, Foran was selected in the New Zealand Kiwis' squad for the Newcastle trans-Tasman test game against Australia and for the 2011 Four Nations tournament. Team-mate, halves-partner and Kiwis captain Benji Marshall also tipped Foran to be a key figure for the Kiwis' Four Nations campaign. Foran featured in the Newcastle trans-Tasman test against Australia in the Kiwis 42-6 loss, and every game of the Kiwis' regular Four Nations tournament rounds, and then later the Kiwis were knocked out of the tournament by England in the final round losing 28-6 at KC Stadium, resulting the Kiwis missing an opportunity to play Australia in the Four Nations grand final.

2012

Foran travelled to England with the Sea Eagles for the 2012 World Club Challenge match against 2011 Super League Champions Leeds Rhinos, Foran played at five-eighth in the 26-12 loss at Headingley Stadium. Early in the 2012 NRL season Following the departure of Manly's 2008 and 2011 premiership-winning coach Des Hasler to the Canterbury Bulldogs Hasler was believed to have talked to the young five-eighth after Foran activated a get-out clause in his current Manly contract after he was offered a three-year deal worth $650,000 per season. However, on 29 April 2012, Foran re-signed with Manly until the end of 2015, ending speculations about his future. For his part, Foran admitted after re-signing with Manly that he had dinner with Hasler and his family to personally inform his old coach and mentor of his decision to stay with the reigning NRL premiers. Foran was ruled-out of the Kiwis' 2012 ANZAC Test game clash against Australia, due to a hamstring injury. Foran was replaced by Shaun Johnson. During Week 2 of the 2012 NRL Finals Series in which Manly played the North Queensland Cowboys, Foran was involved in a try scored by Michael Oldfield. After a Daly Cherry-Evans bomb in the 62nd minute, some, including Cowboys five-eighth and captain Johnathan Thurston, claimed that Foran had knocked the ball forward, which ultimately lead to a try being awarded by video referees Steve Clark and Paul Simpkins as 'benefit of the doubt'. Thurston was later quoted as telling referee Shayne Hayne that, "(the Cowboys) had been robbed twice," the first time being the 52nd minute try to Jorge Taufua. During the whole ordeal, Foran maintained that he had not made contact with the ball during the Sea Eagles 22-12 win. Foran finished the season with him playing in 21 matches and scoring 4 tries for the Sea Eagles. On 13 October 2012, Foran was selected to play halfback for the Kiwis against the Australian Kangaroos in the post-season trans-Tasman test in which the Kiwis lost 18-10 at 1300SMILES Stadium.

2013

On 13 February 2013, Foran was chosen to play for the NRL All Stars team off the interchange bench in the 32–6 loss to the Indigenous All Stars at Suncorp Stadium. In Round 1, Foran started the 2013 NRL season with a man-of-the-match strong performance in Manly's 22-14 win over the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium. Foran then continued his great form by producing a number of strong performances and great plays, leading-up to the 2013 Anzac Test game. On 19 April 2013, Foran was selected to play five-eighth for New Zealand in the 2013 Anzac test against Australia at Canberra Stadium. Hours before the test game, New Zealand captain Simon Mannering was ruled out of the game with a calf injury and Foran was then named as the New Zealand captain for the game, which resulted earning his first captaincy title for his country but unfortunately ending with Australia winning the match 32-12. In Round 24 against the Canberra Raiders, Foran played his 100th career match in the Sea Eagles 36-22 win at Canberra Stadium. Foran went on to help guide Manly to the grand final. On 6 October 2013, Foran played five-eighth in the 2013 NRL Grand Final against the Sydney Roosters, however the Roosters won the game 26-18 and the NRL Premiership Title. Foran played in 27 matches and score 2 tries the Sea Eagles in the 2013 NRL season. Following the NRL grand final, Foran was named in the New Zealand Kiwis World Cup squad. Coach Stephen Kearney had originally planned to rest Foran, along with Sydney Roosters' players Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Sonny Bill Williams, Sam Moa, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Frank-Paul Nu'uausala for the team's World Cup warm-up game against the Cook Islands after they all played in the NRL Grand Final. However Foran was called into action at five-eighth for the game following a hamstring injury to Thomas Leuluai. Foran was selected for the Kiwis' first World Cup game against Samoa playing at five-eighth in the Kiwis' 42-24 win at Halliwell Jones Stadium. The following week, he played in the Kiwis' 48-0 win over France at Parc des Sports (Avignon). On 7 November 2013, New Zealand coach Stephen Kearney rested regular captain Simon Mannering and selected Foran to captain New Zealand for the Group B World Cup game clash against Papua New Guinea. The game saw Foran captaining New Zealand for the second time in his career. The Kiwis beat PNG in that game 56-10, giving Foran his first win as Kiwis captain. In the World Cup knockout finals, Foran featured in the Kiwis' quarter-final 40-4 win over Scotland, and the semi-final 20-18 win over England, which took the Kiwis to the World Cup final for a re-match of the 2008 World Cup final against Australia. Unlike the 2008 Final boilover where New Zealand won their first ever World Cup by defeating Australia 34-20 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia won the 2014 final 34-2, in front of a world record international rugby league crowd of 74,468 at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester. Following the World Cup, Foran won the Steve Watene Memorial medal on 9 December 2013, becoming only the second recipient after Jeremy Smith to win this award. Foran was also named as the New Zealand Kiwis 2013 player of the year.

2014

Following the Sea Eagles 26-21 win over the North Queensland Cowboys in Round 7 at Central Coast Stadium, Foran picked-up a knee injury which ruled him out of the Kiwis' trans-Tasman ANZAC test match and was expected to sidelined him until Round 12. Foran returned from his knee injury in Manly's 36-10 loss to the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium in Round 12. During the game, he scored a try in the first half. Foran finished off the 2014 NRL season with him playing in 22 matches and scoring 6 tries for the Sea Eagles. Following the end of the season, Foran was selected in New Zealand's 2014 Four Nations squad. On 25 October 2014, Foran played his first Kiwi-test match at five-eighth in the Four Nations tournament round 1 opener at Suncorp Stadium, Foran produced a strong performance; as he along with his halves-partner Shaun Johnson guided the Kiwis to a 30-12 win over Australia, as well as guiding the team to their first win over Australia since the 2010 Four Nations final. The following week and on 1 November, he was again selected to play at five-eighth against Samoa at Whangarei's Toll Stadium meaning that this game was Foran's first test game in New Zealand. During the match against Samoa, he produced a strong man-of-the-match performance; scoring a try (in the 1st half of the game) and making 22 tackles, 6 runs for 58 metres, 2 off-loads, 2 line-break assist, 1 line-break, 2 try-saving tackles and 6 kicks in-play, in the Kiwis' 14-12 home-game win. On 8 November, Foran again featured at five-eighth, helping to guide the Kiwis to a 16-14 win over England at Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium and guiding the team to the Four Nations grand final. On 15 November, Foran played at five-eighth in the Four Nations tournament's grand final clash against Australia at Wellington's Westpac Stadium, producing a strong performance making 22 tackles, 6 runs (60 metres), 1 line-break, 2 line-break assists, 2 off-loads, 1 try-assist (to Manu Vatuvei in the second half of the game) and 2 try-saving tackles. He proved a solid foil for halfback Shaun Johnson to work off and steadied the Kiwi-team ship on more than one occasion and backed it up with a good defensive game; which also helped the Kiwis to win the 2014 Rugby League Four Nations title, as well as extending the team's winning run to 3 consecutive wins on home soil, guiding the team to their 1st home-game win over Australia in New Zealand since 2003 and guiding the team to 2 consecutive test-games wins over Australia since 1953. New Zealand won the final 22-18.

2015

On 23 January 2015, Foran was named in the Sea Eagles 2015 NRL Auckland Nines squad. On 13 February 2015, Foran was selected at five-eighth for the NRL All Stars in the 2015 All Stars match at Cbus Super Stadium. The NRL All Stars lost 20-6 to the Indigenous All Stars. On 16 March 2015, Foran ended weeks of speculation over his future by informing teammates he was joining the Parramatta Eels from 2016, Foran who was off contract at the end of the 2015 season was understood to have agreed a four-year deal worth $AUD4.8 million with the Eels from 2016. For the 2015 ANZAC Test against Australia at Suncorp Stadium, Foran played at five-eighth and assisted the Kiwis to a 26-12 victory, resulting the Kiwis defeating the Kangaroos 3 times in a row, the first time since 1953. On 3 July 2015, Foran officially signed a 2-year contract with the Parramatta Eels, with an option for an additional 2 years, starting in 2016. The Sea Eagles finished the 2015 NRL season at 9th spot, missing out of the Finals since the 2004 NRL season. Foran finished his last year with Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles with him playing in 19 matches, scoring 4 tries and kicking 4 goals. On 8 September 2015, Foran was named in the New Zealand Kiwis' training squad for their tour of Great Britain. Foran later pulled out of the squad due to injury.

External links

• 2016 Parramatta Eels profile