Anthony Watmough launches emotional defence of Kieran Foran, declaring he’s ‘a hero in my eyes’

ANTHONY Watmough has issued an emotional defence of Kieran Foran, declaring he’s “a hero in my eyes” for having the courage to walk away from the NRL.

Kieran Foran.

FORMER teammate Anthony Watmough has launched an emotional defence of Kieran Foran, declaring he’s “a hero in my eyes” for having the courage to walk away from rugby league to deal with his issues.

The Daily Telegraph revealed on Friday that Foran had informed Parramatta coach Brad Arthur of his desire to take an indefinite break from the NRL amid a season plagued with controversy.

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Foran signed a lucrative $4.8 million, four-year commitment to the Eels last year, but things have gone rapidly downhill since then for a recruit described by Parramatta legend Peter Sterling as the club’s most important signing in 20 years.

The Kiwi five-eighth has had to deal with the break-up of a relationship, a stint in rehab after a prescription drug overdose, being stripped of the Eels captaincy and issued with a breach notice after failing to properly manage his rehab from a long-term shoulder injury.

But a clearly emotional Watmough had nothing but praise for Foran’s decision to take a break from rugby league.

“He’s obviously a braver man than me and you,” Watmough told Fox Sports News. “He’s walked away from everything because he realised he has to get himself right. I know how low it’s been like for him and hard how hard just to keep his head above.

“It takes a really brave man to step away and get himself right. When you’re getting kicked and kicked and kicked every day, whether it ws his private life or his career, every day going through what he was going through — and believe me I know how low he was because I spoke to him.

Anthony Watmough and Kieran Foran share a laugh as they watch the Eels from the stands.

“Unless you’ve been around people with mental health issues or people with depression or serious things like that, you don’t know what they’re going through.

“People with that issue will know what I’m talking about, people who don’t won’t. And I know people who’ve had lots of issues and I know how tough it is to keep doing what you’re doing.

“He’s a hero in my eyes because he got up every day dealing with it and going on with life. “Whether it was those writing stories about him or whether it was people with microphones, I know it was pretty relentless on him — and I felt for the kid. And he realised he needed to get away for himself. He’s a hero in my eyes.”

The star No. 7 is sidelined for the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury, and the club on Friday released a statement declaring they had not received any request from Foran’s management regarding a release.

But the move from Foran blindsided Eels legend Nathan Hindmarsh.

“I don’t know Keran that well but I know he’s a professional player, handles himself in a professional way,” Hindmarsh told Fox Sports. “And I just thought he’s got some things to handle, some personal issues in particular. The Eels will give him as much time as he needs and we’ll see him fresh and ready to go in 2017. If you’d asked me that last night, that’s what I would have said.”

NRL 360 co-host Paul Kent was less taken by surprise by Foran’s decision.

“A couple of weeks ago there were talk he was going to walk away from the game. That he’d had enough. That was certainly coming from Kieran. It was on his mind. But nobody thought he’d carry through on it, and today we find out that he has,” Kent told Fox Sports. “We still think there’s a chance he will come back to the game. Certainly he’s out injured this year but even next year he won’t be around, and it mightn’t be until 2018 he comes back.”

Kieran Foran has taken an indefinite break from rugby league.

One of the reason Foran joined Parramatta was because he wanted to work under former Manly assistant coach Brad Arthur again, but the stripping of the captaincy and the imposition of a $5,000 fine has caused a fracture in their relationship, according to Kent.

“Brad has been frustrated that he hasn’t undertaken the rehab program that Paramatta set out for him He wants him there at training, he wants him there at the club doing the rehab.

“Kieran wants to do it his way. Kieran certainly has other issues other than just his shoulder that he needs to get repaired. And Kieran wants to do it the way he wants to do it — and that’s caused a little bit of an argument.

“When they fined him $5000 and stripped him of the captaincy. Now, $5,000 when what you’re earning what Kieran is earning is a spit in the ocean, but it was a stand from Parramatta.”

Also speaking on Fox Sports, Gordon Tallis and Hindmarsh were of the view that Foran would be better served by being around his teammates, but Kent disagreed.

“Getting him back in that environment he’s got issues that’s a constant reminder to him,” Kent said. “He’s got some serious things he’s got to get through his mind at the moment.

“It’s going to take a lot of work to get there and to be honest football is just not that important to him. Kieran is a young man who doesn’t handle stress well and that’s the anomaly — as tough as he is, as disciplined as he is on the football field, he’s very easily led and he doesn’t handle a lot of stress well.

“The shoulder is just a minor, minor part of this. It’s all the other stuff that’s going on and it’s just overwhelmed him.”

So much so that Foran is willing to risk throwing away a $5 million contract but, as Watmough pointed out, that’s irrelevant when you’re battling the demons he is.

“He knows it’s a big enough issue that he had to walk away and he had to get himself right,” Watmough said.

Originally published as Anthony Watmough launches emotional defence of Kieran Foran, declaring he’s ‘a hero in my eyes’