The attitude that has Kieran Foran on the verge of NRL history

Between the ninth of November and today, Kieran Foran: retired from professional rugby league, joined the Sea Eagles as an assistant coach, was promoted to interim head coach, and is now on the verge of history.

That’s all in the space of seven months.

Should Foran’s Sea Eagles win against the Parramatta Eels, Foran will become the first interim coach in the NRL era to win their first four matches, surpassing Brad Fittler and Peter Sharp’s records from 2007 and 1999 respectively.

But his start wasn’t without its doubts and trepidations.

Foran was heavily doubted by fans and pundits, and even himself, but, as is the trademark of his career, the 318-game veteran dug deep and backed himself.

Manly’s interim head coach opened up to SEN's Sportsday with Rat and Jarrod about his inner monologue in the wild 24 hours that saw him elevated him to the Sea Eagles top job.

“I think it would be unrealistic if there was no moment of going ‘jeez, this is this is huge’,” Foran said.

“There was certainly a moment of that for sure you know. Like I said, I had the boots on seven months ago, so you know you have that moment where you go well like ‘jeez, am I up for this?’

“But as I said, the very next day when I was being interviewed, at the end of the day one thing I've always done is I backed myself and I backed my ability and I haven't shied away from something out of the fear of an outcome or a result.

“If you want to coach, then you've got to coach, and you coach as well as you can.

“And at the end of the day, if this great club believes that I'm capable of stepping in and doing this role, then you just go all systems ahead, and that's what I've done.

“You park that (doubt), and you go… I'll back myself in here.

“I've got a great footy team, I've got great staff around me, and, and I'll back myself to get the job done.

“And that's what I'll keep doing until I'm done.”

But it wasn’t just Foran who had his own back.

With 23 rounds still remaining in the season, a finals push was well and truly an option for Manly if they could sort themselves out, and that started with Manly’s two most influential leaders, Tom and Jake Trbojevic on his first day in the top job.

“It was really important (to have that conversation), mate,” Foran told SEN 1170 Sportsday.

“Those guys, they're such admired figures amongst the footy club and their careers speak for itself.

“They're the heart and soul of this club, they've given absolutely everything over the course of their careers to this jersey, and I spent time playing alongside those guys and had wonderful relationships with them.

“Then getting the opportunity to come back under Anthony (Seibold) and coach both Tom and Jake and all the boys was really really special.

“And then once I stepped into that interim role, I think it was really important that I not only sat down with them and understood what they felt we could improve on through the year… but just to know how they were feeling inside about the appointment and just to get the lay of the land.

“It was, I think, a really pivotal chat with those guys. It was nothing major… but it was just about us making sure that we were on the right page, very aligned with what we wanted to do and so far it's working.

“They're as loyal as it comes in terms of the Manly Jersey and the more we can understand about how they feel, (how) they want things to be moving forward, the better.”