It’s the question that is being asked throughout rugby league circles: What is ‘Fozball’?
Is it just a vibe? Can you touch it? Can you hold it? What makes Manly football Kieran Foran style so different to what they’ve been serving up before?
A Manly fan holds up a Kieran Foran sign in the crowd at the Sea Eagles v Rabbitohs round 14 game. Cameron Spencer
The ‘Fozball’ phenomenon has transformed Sydney’s northern beaches to the point that the KFC (a Sea Eagles sponsor) in Manly Vale got rid of Colonel Sanders on their signage and replaced him with a Foran visage. Brookvale Oval is no longer 4Pines Park, it’s FozPines Park.
Few personalities have ever had such a transformational effect on an organisation, let alone an NRL club.
The coach, who is just 35 and only seven months removed from his professional playing career, has become a phenomenon and he’s getting results – taking the Sea Eagles on an 8-2 run since taking the reins as interim coach.
Rugby league’s eighth Immortal Andrew Johns is convinced the Sea Eagles under Foran are the real deal and can be legitimate premiership contenders if they take a fully fit squad into September.
He also believes ‘Fozball’ is a real thing, not just a marketing gimmick which plenty of businesses are cashing in on with ‘Fozball’ merchandise being sold up and down the beaches.
Asked by Nine’s Danny Weidler to define ‘Fozball’ for Wide World of Sports’ Immortal Behaviour, Johns said the coach had simply freed the mind of his players.
No longer do they fear the consequences of making an error, he claims, believing their play was paralysed by a clouded mind under the coaching of Anthony Seibold.
“For mine, it is a mental thing. It’s using the ball, they use the ball coming out of trouble, there’s ball movement,” Johns said.
“What my perception of it is, there’s no fear of making an error.
“Now, in the back of your mind, if you think you’re going to get roasted on Monday or Tuesday in a video session – look I don’t know if Anthony Seibold did that – but sometimes they looked like they’d tighten up if they made an error.
“It just seems to me that they’re playing with a lot of freedom and no fear of making an error.”
With those words Johns almost seems to be suggesting that Seibold is the anti-hero in this story of Manly’s revival.
To many Sea Eagles fans, that’s exactly what he is. It’s not necessarily that he lost the players due to his demeanour in half-time talks or video sessions but he did seem to lose his impact – Haumole Olakau’atu’s numbers before and after Seibold this season are a prime example. It’s night and day.
There are theories out there that Seibold was too scientific. He clouded the minds of players by overcomplicating game plans and the expectations he had on individuals.
Anthony Seibold embraces Daly Cherry-Evans after the halfback’s last game for Manly. Getty
Speak to the players now and they say that Foran has simplified things. That is perhaps what Johns is getting at when he says ‘Fozball’ is “a mental thing”. The weight on the players’ minds has been lifted.
“It’d be hard for Anthony Seibold, for sure,” Johns admitted.
“Especially watching them the way they’ve performed. What have they won – seven of their last nine? (at the time Immortal Behaviour was filmed, before Thursday night’s win over the Rabbitohs) – and obviously them coming out talking about how happy they are.
“I feel for him, but you know, he was there for a while, it doesn’t matter what relationship between players and coach, it can get stale.”
Things are anything but stale on the northern beaches under Foran. The place is alive with energy.
With almost half a season still to be played though, can they ride ‘Fozball’ energy all the way to an unlikely premiership.
Johns won’t write them off.
“You’ve gotta be in the top four to win it. No one’s won it from outside the top four (in the current finals system),” Johns said.
“Penrith and the Warriors you can lock in, they’re top four.
“Manly for me are a team that can get into the top four, they have to be fully fit, they have to have Tom Trbojevic back on board, playing fullback.
“If they have their best 17 come September and they finish in the top four, absolutely they can win the comp.”
Right now the Sea Eagles sit third on the ladder and Trbojevic will return from his hamstring injury for their next match in a fortnight after their round 15 bye.
‘Fozball’ is looking the real thing but who’s to say we’ve reached its peak.