WHILE all the focus was on his opposite number Shane Flanagan, Manly caretaker coach Kieran Foran was quietly dodging the most pressing question about his own tenure.
The Sea Eagles’ 28-18 win at WIN Stadium on Friday night was St George Illawarra’s 10th consecutive defeat under Flanagan and had many observers sharpening their knives.
Similar implements did their work on Anthony Seibold a fortnight ago and Foran has won both games since.
But when asked if he wanted to step up to a permanent appointment at Brookvale, Foran demured.
“I’m not focused on anything past each week at the moment,” he said.
“My sole focus is on preparing the boys each and every week as best as we can as a staff and getting wins of the club.
“It’s been a good start but there’s plenty to go yet.”
St George Illawarra stormed back from 16-0 down to lead Manly by two but Kobe Hetherington’s 54th minute try reclaimed the lead for the Sea Eagles and from there they hung on to continue their revival.
Asked if he still felt he had the support of the club’s hierarchy, Flanagan said:Â “Yep, yep.”
He also commented:Â “I don’t want to hide in the coaches box – I’m here to fight, here to win.
“I’m on the sideline with the team fighting as hard as I can. I didn’t want to hide in the coaches box and have cameras coming up there.
“They can get me … they could have got me for 80 minutes if they wanted.
“I’ve never experienced this. I’ve never lost four, five in a row. It is different but all I can ask is the players put in max effort, or a real good effort
“That means they’re playing for me and I did think tonight they put in a real good effort.
“All I know is I’ve got a job here to do. It is about winning football games and there’s some other stuff that goes with it, about educating young men, educating young players about how to be NRL players, managing a squad…
“We’ve got some new players coming next year. We’ve got to win this year. I fully understand that – that’s part of my job.
“I understand what the responsibilities are. I’m not quite sure if the rope is shorter or longer but it’s definitely not an enjoyable one when you’re on that rope.”
A highlight of Manly’s early lead was centre Rueben Garrick scoring a 90 metre try straight from the kick-off restart, with Jason Saab the only other player handling.
Sea Eagles second rower Haumole Olakau’ato was placed on report for a high shot. Fellow foward Jake Trbojevic passed a HIA but was suffering from blurred vision and did not return to the field.
Foran said: “Back end of the first half, we gave them a sniff.”
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MANLY 28 (Garrick 2 T Trbojevic Hetherington Hopoate tries Fogerty 4 goals) beat ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 18 (Leilua Liddle Tu tries Holmes 3 goals) at WIN Stadium. Crowd: 11,381.
Teams:
SGI: Tyrell Sloan; Christian Tuipolotu, Moses Suli, Valentine Holmes, Setu Tu; Daniel Atkinson, Kyle Flanagan; Emre Guhler, Toby Couchman, Luciano Leilua, Jaydn Su’A, Hamish Stewart. Res: Jacob Liddle, Blake Lawrie, Hame Sele, Matthew Feagai, Josh Kerr, Kade Reed.
MANLY: Tom Trbojevic (c); Jason Saab, Tolutau Koula, Reuben Garrick, Lehi Hopoate; Luke Brooks, Jamal Fogerty; Taniela Paseka, Brandon Wakeham, Kobe Hetherington, Haumole Olakau’atu, Ben Trbojevic, Jake Trbojevic. Res: Jake Simpkin, Corey Waddell, Ethan Bullemor, Simione Laiafa.
Referee: Adam Gee.