Retiring Gold Coast Titans legend Kieran Foran opens up about remarkable journey before his final NRL game
Retiring NRL legend Kieran Foran has survived 17 surgeries, numerous controversies and a suicide attempt to forge a remarkable NRL career. There was one moment that sparked his stunning turnaround.
Retiring NRL legend Kieran Foran is the eternal optimist.
It’s an approach to life that’s helped him squeeze everything out of a 16-year NRL career which will end on Saturday with his 318th game when the Gold Coast Titans take on Wests Tigers at Cbus Super Stadium.
Foran, 35, has had a career, and life, like few others.
He’s experienced the highs of NRL premiership glory with Manly in 2011 and the lows of attempting to take his own life just a few years later.
He’s undergone 17 surgeries on a body now held together by strapping tape and pure determination.
Yet he wouldn’t swap his journey for any other.
“Oh mate, turbulent,” Foran says when asked to reflect on his ups and downs.
“Some people forget, watching me now or even the young blokes, that part of my career where it was so tumultuous.
“I climbed the mountain rapidly at Manly in the first seven years then I spent the next five seasons fighting. I went to three clubs (Eels, Warriors and Bulldogs) and had 12 surgeries, tried to take my own life, had young kids and a relationship breakdown.
“All that while I was trying to continue my dream as a professional rugby league player.
“I don’t know how I got through it but I’m just grateful I did. It taught me so much. That was the making of me, really.
“The toughest times through life truly do make you. They shape you, they help you build another level of resilience.
“That five-year period for me is the reason why I’m still going today.
“It either breaks you or it makes you, and for me it made the person I am and the footy player I am. I wouldn’t change it.
“There’s decisions that you would make differently, but what I’m saying is it gives you a whole different perspective on life.”
Foran can point to nearly every part of his body that’s undergone an operation since he debuted for Manly in 2009 after being spotted in New Zealand as a schoolboys sensation.
He came through the Sea Eagles during a golden era for the club under coach Des Hasler, who will oversee his final game in the NRL as the Titans attempt to avoid the wooden spoon.
Together with good mate Daly Cherry-Evans, Foran tasted NRL title success in 2011 and a grand final loss in 2013.
He barely missed a game during the first six seasons of his career and debuted for the Kiwis after his rookie NRL campaign.
But then came the period Foran bravely talks about without an ounce of embarrassment. The five years where he jumped between Parramatta, New Zealand and Canterbury on $1 million contracts without playing 20 games in a season.
Foran is the first to admit he is no cleanskin. Off the field he was embroiled in controversies and admits his life was a mess – until he looked in the mirror.
“Around 2018-19 I was chatting with someone about all the things that had gone wrong in my life,” Foran said.
“I was blaming everyone around me for the decisions I’d made. It was always everyone else’s fault.
“Why did I gamble so much? Why am I such a big drinker? Why have I made such poor decisions?
“This person looked me dead in the eye and said ‘well, who have you got to blame? You made all these decisions’.
“It was the fairest bit of advice I’d been given because I was living in the space of blaming everyone else and not taking accountability.
“At that point I realised no-one had a gun to my head and made me make those decisions. I made them all. I had to be accountable for it and accept responsibility for it.
“You’ve got to get out of the ‘poor me’ attitude and go ‘well f***, I’ve made them and I’m responsible for every decision here on in’.
“That was quite a pivotal turning point in my life.”
Hasler offered Foran another shot at Manly in 2021 and he played 25 games as the Sea Eagles fell one win short of the grand final.
After two years at Manly, Foran was squeezed out again and headed to the Titans for a swansong. His first year on the Gold Coast culminated in another career highlight, winning the 2023 Pacific Championships against Australia in his 31st and final Test for his beloved Kiwis.
Two days later, Foran and wife Karina’s world came crashing down following the shock suicide of her son Logan Steinwede, a 20-year-old aspiring professional surfer.
Just when the Forans thought they had come through the other side, there was another bump to contend with on life’s rollercoaster.
His three-year finale on the Gold Coast hasn’t yielded the success the fiercely competitive Foran hoped for, but it’s opened the door to a new chapter. He will remain at the Titans next year to mentor the club’s playmakers and coach an emerging crop of juniors.
The days of constantly partying in the NRL are over but Foran has always found a way to adapt. He wouldn’t have joined the exclusive 300-game club if he hadn’t.
“It’s changed so much,” Foran said of the NRL.
“The game’s always evolving, but in the last four or five years it’s probably been through one of its biggest shifts and not just with the way it’s played.
“The generation’s never been more different. The personnel that you’re playing alongside and coaching these days is very different to what we were like 17 years ago.
“We were going for beers three days a week. We probably spent more time together than we did at home with our families and that was the way it was.
“It just doesn’t happen like that now. Half the blokes don’t really drink, which is a positive thing, it’s great.
“You get together two or three times throughout the year for a bonding session as opposed to 33 times.
“I’ve seen so much change in the game. It’s forever changing and evolving and people are learning new ways to do things differently.
“The young guys these days have different interests and what makes them tick is different to what made us tick 17 years ago.
“The key is adapting, that’s the key to longevity in the game and being successful in life. You’ve got to adapt and evolve.”
Foran has had to adapt and evolve to survive but there’s one thing about him that’s never changed.
He has always played the game with a fearless approach, developing a reputation for carrying the ball deep into a defence and putting his body on the line.
He has given the game plenty but believes he still owes rugby league. Throughout everything, it’s been his one constant.
“Rugby league has been my life since I was four years old and I owe a hell of a lot to the game,” he said.
“It has given me purpose, it’s given me identity, it’s given me a will. It’s been my reason and my ‘why’ through life.
“I truly am obsessed with it. I literally love what I do. I would have played for 17 years for free.
“I used to say ‘I’d give everything just to run out there and experience one game of NRL’. To think I’ve been able to do it over 300 times is pretty special.
“You see wonderful examples of second chances and people rewriting the wrongs and actually rebuilding their lives.
“Life is about growing. Don’t judge someone because they make a mistake or if you don’t know the ins and outs of the story.
“People are going to make mistakes. They’re going to grow from it, learn from it and become better people, or they’re going to choose to keep making mistakes their whole life.
“I went through a really turbulent time in life where I wasn’t making the best decisions. I wasn’t being the best version of who I could have been.
“There’s not a better feeling in the world than when you can rebuild your life. Not only is it a wonderful joy for yourself, but the joy you see it brings to people around you like your loved ones is inspiring.
“That’s what the world’s about, being inspired by each other, by one another.”
Kieran Foran, the eternal optimist.
KIERAN FORAN’S NRL MEMORIES
Favourite teammate: Glenn Stewart (Manly)
Favourite ground: Brookvale Oval, Manly, 2pm Sunday
Career highlights: Winning 2011 NRL grand final with Manly v Warriors and 2023 Pacific Championships final for New Zealand v Australia
Career lowlight: Losing 2013 grand final for Manly v Roosters
Favourite try: 2011 preliminary final v Broncos
Career secret: Nearly signed with the Roosters in 2016 to play with Mitchell Pearce
Favourite coach: Des Hasler (Manly and Gold Coast)
Favourite thing about the NRL: “It is the best game. It is gladiatorial. I love the opportunities it gives people and that we cater to everyone.”
Miss most about the NRL: “Being with the boys and getting ready to go into battle.”
Originally published as Retiring Gold Coast Titans legend Kieran Foran opens up about remarkable journey before his final NRL game
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