The Foz is back and happy days are here again
OPINION: Welcome to this week’s edition of Kieran Foran Watch.
Honestly, what did we all do before the great man arrived at the Warriors?
Parramatta fans, officials, coaches and players must surely wonder how things unravelled so badly between themselves and ‘‘Foz’’.
The Eels looked a rabble at Mt Smart Stadium on Sunday, deservedly slumping to their fourth successive defeat of the season. The Warriors aren’t a great deal better, but they had Foran and Parramatta didn’t and that was the 22-10 result in a nutshell.
Without Foran, who the Eels released just months into a fouryear $5 million contract, Parramatta halfback Corey Norman looks like the Warriors’ Shaun Johnson has for so much of his career.
Bogged down, exasperated, desperate; if Norman had been given a plan to beat the Warriors on Sunday, he definitely didn’t execute it.
The Eels look to Norman for miracles and, right now, he’s got none up his sleeve.
Foran, meanwhile, did what he’s always done. He played straight, he played tough, he did the simple things well and he exposed some tired and lazy defenders.
It’s amazing how effective that can be and how instantly Foran’s direction has ignited the Warriors career of hooker Issac Luke. The trick now is for Foran and company to be just as effective against good teams, but the early signs are promising.
Just on that ... Sunday’s Stuff blog of the Warriors v Eels game brought out the odd corner turner. We’re only two games into Foran’s career at the club, but that’s enough to convince some that they’re on the road to glory.
The 22-10 win gave them backto-back wins and boosted their record for the season to 3-3. Canberra, Brisbane, Manly, Souths and the Bulldogs are the other 3-3 sides, putting the 10thplaced Warriors in decent company.
At least in theory. Brisbane, for example, have started the season with games against Cronulla, North Queensland, Melbourne, Canberra, Canterbury and the Roosters. That’s some run.
Before Foran Fever takes too firm a hold, it’s worth remembering the Warriors’ three wins have come against the lastplaced Knights, Titans (15th) and Eels (13th).
Around the grounds
Mitchell Moses is now the man Parramatta hope will lead them to the promised land and relieve Norman of his burden. Sadly Moses is just as flighty as Norman is, leaving the Eels no closer to finding successors to Peter Sterling and Brett Kenny than they were when the former retired 25 years ago.
Moses’ Eels deal doesn’t begin till next year, but he wants an immediate release from the Wests Tigers.
However, it would be nice if new Tigers coach Ivan Cleary who was due to coach Moses in the Lebanon team in this year’s World Cup - dug his heels in on this one.
The Tigers beat the Cowboys in Townsville on Saturday night, in a match that might have a big impact on North Queensland’s season, depending on how long halfback Johnathan Thurston is out injured.
The Sharks - already written off by plenty of good judges this season - scored a remarkable 11-2 win over Melbourne on Sunday night. Cronulla are a hard team to warm to, but immensely tough. James Maloney’s guile in the halves is a heck of an asset too.
It’s not so long ago that the Roosters halves of Mitchell Pearce and Luke Keary were being proclaimed as the next Kenny and Sterling. They’re not getting so much praise now. Brisbane towelled them up 32-8 and coach Trent Robinson looked bereft of answers in his post-match press conference.
The other noteworthy result was the latest Panthers loss, this time 21-20 to Souths.