RIP Fozball: Has Manly been found out?

With the Fozball sugar hit fading off the Sea Eagles, Perth Bears assistant coach Ben Gardiner has explained how their opponents have been able to stop them.

Parting ways with Anthony Seibold after going winless through the first four rounds of the season, Foran became the club’s interim coach six months after he retired from the Titans.

Straight away, the Kiwi hit the ground running, managing seven wins from his first eight games with Fozball catapulting them from the bottom four to the top four, with Gardiner noting their speed on the edges being instrumental to their change in form.

“I think that earlier on when Kieran took over, they were moving the ball a lot,” Gardiner said on SEN’s Front Office with Vossy.

“But it was a bit of a shock to the opposition teams that they were playing. The opposition teams weren't quite ready for them to move the ball out of yardage because they are very fast on the end of the line.

“You got (Tolutau) Koula, you got (Jason) Saab, these guys are some of the fastest in the comp.

“So, what they were doing is they were moving the ball, and they were putting pressure on the end of people's lines, and then the defensive team was having to retreat back, get into position before they came forward. So, they were always on the front foot.”

Having impressed the club with the turn of form, he was rewarded by becoming the club’s permanent head coach, signing a three-year contract.

But since their second bye of the season back in Round 15, the Sea Eagles have reverted to their form under Seibold, losing six of their last seven games to see them fall outside the eight once more.

As Gardiner explained, teams have been more willing to stop that advantage and cut them off towards the end of the line.

Coupled with some costly errors, it has seen Manly's chances of a top eight finish diminish.

“What I think has happened more recently is teams are aware of that and ready for that,” he continued.

“So, they're actually pulling their spaces a little bit, and they're getting super line speed on the end of the line to cut them off.

“I was live at the game on the weekend, and one of the things that was really obvious is just the amount of errors, Vossy.

“You and I have talked about them before, like when they were going really well, they were having eight or nine errors and playing that Fozball style of footy.

“Now, that is a risky style of footy because you are giving the ball at the line and you are throwing long passes out of your own end.

“They had 14 errors again. They completed at 69 per cent.

“So, it's one thing to play that style where you move the ball, but there's also the old thing is sometimes you have to tuck the ball under your arm, power through the line, and then kick down into the corner and build a territory and possession game through the physicality of your defence.

“It looked at the start of the game (against the Storm) like, here goes the Sea Eagles, Fozball's back.

“But unfortunately, the errors came into the game again.

“Therefore, when the errors come in, they're giving possession away in really bad spots, and they're then putting pressure on their defence, and their defence just can't handle it at the moment.”

The Sea Eagles are back at Brookvale this week. They host the Dolphins this Friday with SEN League having live coverage of the match across our radio network and on the SEN app from 5pm AEST.

Kick-off takes place at 6pm.