The Manly Sea Eagles have named club legend Kieran Foran as man who will take control following the shock axing of Anthony Seibold.
Eagles chairman Scott Penn officially confirmed Foran’s new role alongside the club legend and CEO Jason King during a press conference on Saturday morning.
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Foran’s promotion is a bit of a shock given he had only hung up the boots last season and has been an assistant coach for just three games.
The 318-game NRL great said he received a call late on Friday night where he was offered the position as interim coach of the club.
“I received a call late last night from Scott and Jason at the end of the day it’s not in my nature to say no,” Foran said on Saturday morning.
“There hasn’t been a challenge that I haven’t walked towards in my life or my professional career.
“I know there will be plenty of people that would say there’s no chance I’m ready to take control of this team but I believe in myself, and my standards and values and if the club asks me because they think I’m the best person to step into the role, I’m going to take it on.
“I don’t know if your ever ready for anything to be honest. I played 318 NRL games and at the end of the day I walked into a final at the end of my Test career and didn’t know which way it was going to go.
“I love this club and I’ve been asked to step into the interim coach role and that’s what I’m going to do.”
Foran said his first response after being offered the role was “are you sure, are you comfortable with the decision and the words from Scott and Jason were ‘yes we are’. I’m extremely grateful.”
Club chairman Scott Penn thanked Seibold for his time at the helm of the Sea Eagles, but reiterated the results weren’t meeting the expectations.
“The back half of last year didn’t meet our expectations and we capitulated in a few games. We did have a number of injuries but we also had solid leads but didn’t finish them off,” he said.
“We knew we needed to turn it around this year so during the review process last year, we said we thought there was more potential in the team but we didn’t see that progression in 2026.
“We lost three games at home for first time in 20 years and we’re not happy about that. It doesn’t meet our standards. We need to win now and get back on the park and get everyone’s head in the right space. We think Kieran is the best man to do that.”
CEO Jason King doubled down on believing Kieran was the right man to lead the club out of its slump.
“We do really believe in Kieran and is the right person for the job. We couldn’t have been more thrilled that he accepted the appointment,” King said.
“In terms of a longer plan, it’s early days. We’re focused on supporting Kieran as best as we can then think about an appropriate process to go through to think more broadly beyond 2026.”
The extraordinary decision to axe Seibold came despite him having a contract that was due to run until the end of next season.
According to Code Sports, Seibold is expected to receive a payout of more than $300,000 from Manly.
The axing likely spells the end of the 51-year-old’s career as an NRL head coach.
Seibold, 51, was coach of the Rabbitohs for one season in 2018 and spent two seasons as coach of the Brisbane Broncos before he was sacked.
He had been coach of Manly since 2023 and this was his fourth season in charge.
It comes on a day that the PNG Chiefs appointed the highly touted Willie Peters as the inaugural coach of the expansion side.
