The other unfolded 16,000 kilometres away in the Oval Office, with the White House press corps hanging on every word.<\/p>\n
\u201cWow, there you go,\u201d Manly captain Trbojevic says when told of his tenuous link to the US President. \u201cI know what Foz\u2019s dad does. He\u2019s obviously got great life and business experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Greg](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/b8d07801bea59682c298ea012de9608fe78bed23.jpeg\")
Greg Foran (far right), chief executive officer of Kroger, speaks during an announcement in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington last month.Bloomberg<\/p>\n
Kieran and Greg Foran have lived vastly different lives, but their father-son bond has remained strong.<\/p>\n
In 2016, the year Trump won his first US presidential election, Kieran Foran was rushed to St Vincent\u2019s Hospital in Darlinghurst after overdosing on prescription medication.<\/p>\n
The decorated rugby league star\u2019s struggles with gambling, alcohol and depression had, in his words, \u201cspiralled out of control\u201d. It is a subject he is happy to talk about.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t even want to be alive,\u201d Foran says. \u201cI felt like I was never going to get out of it. It was f—ing torture.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy life hit rock bottom. I was just too young, too immature, making dumb decisions. You get to the point you\u2019re burning the candle at both ends. You\u2019re just living in the most reckless and ridiculous lifestyle away from the field. It all capitulated.<\/p>\n
![\"Kieran](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ebc5fbe11eb71b390ff6d0d9f840104f30fc8bd6.jpeg\")
Kieran Foran in 2016 at the Parramatta Eels. Mark Kolbe<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were times when you wanted to break.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just hope I can give someone else hope. When they\u2019re going through it, they can go, \u2018Well, look at Kieran Foran now\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
A decade later, Trump is back in the White House. Foran, too, finds himself in a place that once seemed unimaginable.<\/p>\n
Having retired from professional football only last year after playing 318 first-grade games, Foran has become the face of Manly\u2019s remarkable NRL resurgence and is one of the most popular figures in the game.<\/p>\n
That Titans win marked seven victories from eight games since the 35-year-old took over from Anthony Seibold on March 28.<\/p>\n
Foran-mania is off the charts. Earlier this month, a KFC restaurant in Manly Vale temporarily replaced the face of Colonel Sanders with Foran\u2019s visage, while 4 Pines Park was briefly rebranded \u201cFoz Pines Park\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was driving to the game there were all these Foz things around. I was like, \u2018Jeez, we\u2019d better play well\u2019,\u201d Trbojevic says. \u201cI\u2019m glad we did.\u201d<\/p>\n But amid the chaos, comebacks and career twists of the past decade, there has been one constant source of quiet guidance for Foran: his father.<\/p>\n Now seems as good a time as any for Greg Foran to talk publicly for the first time on his son\u2019s journey \u2013 from one of the code\u2019s most troubled stars to the toast of Manly, living out a classic of the rugby league genre: the redemption story.<\/p>\n \u201cKieran is determined, purposeful, caring and curious,\u201d Greg says from the United States. \u201cSuccess and failure has heightened those attributes.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard to say what got him through, but I suspect a number of components within the rugby league system helped \u2013 or, more specifically, the people.\u201d<\/p>\n Kieran agrees.<\/p>\n \u201cRugby league has definitely been my saviour,\u201d he admits.<\/p>\n A face-to-face interview with Greg isn\u2019t possible. Nor is a phone call. The chief executive of Kroger, a US supermarket giant, and former CEO of Air New Zealand has just arrived in California from Ohio. It is a long way from stacking shelves at Woolworths as a 17-year-old in Hamilton, New Zealand.<\/p>\n \u201cThen I\u2019m off to Utah tomorrow night and then Michigan on Thursday before getting back to Ohio on Friday,\u201d he says via a WhatsApp message. \u201cSend through your questions\u201d.<\/p>\n The former Walmart chief executive, who retains a thick Kiwi accent, once oversaw almost 1.6 million staff across thousands of stores and hundreds of billions of dollars in annual revenue.<\/p>\n Reported to have a net worth exceeding $US100 million ($142 million), Greg now earns about $US16.5 million ($23.5 million) a year running Kroger.<\/p>\n He has dined with Warren Buffett, one of the world\u2019s richest people, introduced Oprah Winfrey at an event and, just last month, stood alongside Trump at the White House discussing supermarket prices.<\/p>\n Foran snr has an innate fear of failure and hates losing more than he likes winning. Sound familiar?<\/p>\n The 64-year-old\u2019s daily routine begins at 4am with 70 knuckle push-ups, 45 minutes of stretching (hamstring and lower back) and 1000 stairs before arriving at the office by 6am.<\/p>\n When he heard Manly had offered Kieran the coaching role, however, his first reaction was concern.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember the call clearly,\u201d Greg says. \u201cI honestly had reservations. Experience being the main one. It\u2019s also one of those roles that when you get hired, there\u2019s a reasonable chance you get fired at some point. As a parent, you always consider the upside and the downside.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, I picked up early in the conversation that he had made his mind up. He, and in fact all the family, do have an emotional link with the club, so if it was going to be anywhere, then this was the spot.\u201d<\/p>\n Of the phone call, Kieran remembers: \u201cHe was coming from a place of worry. I said, \u2018What\u2019s the alternative? You say no to an opportunity like this and you never quite know if it\u2019ll present itself again. If you\u2019d been given an opportunity early on in your career, would you have turned it down?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t want to say no to an opportunity just because it might be a fear of failure. Just back yourself and just go full steam ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n Greg has spent much of his son\u2019s adult life overseas. They exchange texts every week and speak when a longer conversation is needed, most recently catching up for lunch in February in the Sydney CBD with Foran\u2019s siblings, Liam and Natalie.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has forgotten more than I have learned about the game [of rugby league],\u201d Greg says. \u201cI do attempt to provide, what I hope, is a perspective, often from a different altitude.\u201d<\/p>\n Growing up in Auckland \u2013 he moved to Australia during primary school \u2013 Kieran dreamed of representing the Kiwis or the All Blacks. He idolised Carlos Spencer, Christian Cullen, Sean Fitzpatrick, Stacey Jones and Ruben Wiki.<\/p>\n \u201cDad used to say to me, \u2018If that\u2019s what you want, then you better make sure you work bloody hard and work harder than anyone else out there\u2019,\u201d Foran says.<\/p>\n \u201cThat just stayed with me my whole life. That\u2019s how he\u2019s lived his life. You just realise it takes extreme dedication and hard work to get where you want to get to in life.\u201d<\/p>\n I ask Greg, with tongue in cheek, whether there are any similarities between running Walmart and getting Manly into the top four.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve not led a football team, but there will be plenty of similarities,\u201d Greg replies. \u201cDeciding where to play and how to win, creating an agreed purpose, building a team to execute and more. We chat about some of these things.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m most proud of Kieran\u2019s achievements; his comeback, his empathy and his adaptability. Over the years I have attended countless games and even when living outside of the country, I\u2019ve watched nearly every game.\u201d<\/p>\n The comeback has been quite something. Ten years ago, Foran had just walked out on Parramatta as the club\u2019s marquee signing and a shell of a man. He was struggling badly, sleeping in his car on the side of the road at times because he was too exhausted to drive from Sydney to Cessnock, where he was staying with his brother.<\/p>\n It was the \u201cbest and worst time\u201d of Foran\u2019s life. The partying and adulation that came with being one of the game\u2019s best playmakers was juxtaposed with the harrowing lows and demands away from the field, which included a relationship breakdown.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were so many times I could have walked away. I could have packed up and gone, \u2018You know what, f— this, I\u2019m done. I can\u2019t deal with this anymore\u2019,\u201d Foran says.<\/p>\n \u201c2016 was the biggest lesson in my life because when you walk away from something \u2026 you realise that attitude gets you absolutely nowhere in life.<\/p>\n \u201cThrough my own personal relationships and addiction problems, I look back and think I got it wrong. I felt like I didn\u2019t need rugby league in my life. I decided to step away from the game because I felt like it wasn\u2019t serving me.<\/p>\n \u201cI got it so wrong. Rugby league was deadset the best thing that ever happened to me. It didn\u2019t just help me, it shaped me.\u201d<\/p>\n Foran\u2019s mental health deteriorated as he navigated turmoil in his personal life away from football, prompting then Parramatta coach Brad Arthur to hand the five-eighth a spare key and welcome him into his home with his family and three young kids.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was just down and out on the ropes, mate,\u201d Arthur says from the UK, where he coaches Leeds Rhinos.<\/p>\n \u201cI just wanted to make sure he had a roof over his head. I had to give him a bit of tough love. It strained our relationship \u2026 because I couldn\u2019t understand when he made some poor choices, and he couldn\u2019t understand why I was disappointed.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a good person. His experiences will make him a long-term and very good NRL coach.\u201d<\/p>\n Foran says: \u201cI could never thank Brad and his family enough for that period. He really tried to help me get back on track. You live with elements of regret, where you just wish you could have f—ing handled things better. It wasn\u2019t to be.\u201d<\/p>\n Having turned a corner, there was a season at the Warriors (2017) and an injury-plagued 40-game stint at the Bulldogs between 2018 and 2020 that tested Foran\u2019s mental resilience like nothing else. He made a return to Manly in 2021, staying two years, and eventually finished his career last year at the Gold Coast Titans. He underwent 17 major surgeries, form slumps and moments when retirement felt inevitable. It is why the roses smell so good now.<\/p>\n \u201cI was battling a whole lot of stuff,\u201d Foran says. \u201cPeople were saying things like, \u2018Foran\u2019s body is gone, he\u2019s wasting money, he\u2019s wasting everyone\u2019s time\u2019. It was constant talk that can be really difficult to deal with it. The attitude you have to have in life is, \u2018No, I\u2019ll get through this\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n The week-to-week grind of rugby league coaching leaves little time for reflection, but our 40-minute conversation gives Foran the chance to pause and appreciate just how far he has come.<\/p>\n Whatever buttons he is pushing at Manly are working. His players believe in him, his message is cutting through, and fans are eating out of his hand.<\/p>\n Three months ago, as the Sea Eagles slumped to three straight defeats, the hill at Brookvale Oval was restless. Today, it feels like a place of celebration.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s come in and given us a lot of belief. He\u2019s made it really fun,\u201d Trbojevic says.<\/p>\n Foran\u2019s experiences have shaped the coach he is today. Like Arthur once provided from him for him, Foran has an open-door policy at Manly.<\/p>\n The culture has also changed dramatically from his early playing days, when going out for drinks three to four times a week was the rule, not the exception. Nowadays, Foran enjoys a glass of wine with his wife, Karina, or a beer with staff after a win. The temptations are no longer there.<\/p>\n \u201cThe days of going to the pub and drinking 15 schooners are long gone,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Foran understands the fickle nature of coaching. The same supporters chanting his name today could be demanding answers if Manly\u2019s fortunes suddenly turn.<\/p>\n Related Article For much of his career, Foran was defined by the mistakes he made and the battles he fought away from football. These days, he hopes to be remembered for the people he helped.<\/p>\n \u201cIt makes me really empathetic to the struggles that young guys go through in life,\u201d Foran says.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen the distractions and the way life can take you off track. It can become a real burden on you. I always tell my guys to never feel ashamed, guilty or embarrassed about wanting to come and talk to me about absolutely anything. I can guarantee there\u2019s nothing that\u2019ll rock me or make me fall off my chair.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, the goal is to win premierships \u2026 but if when my coaching journey comes to an end, hopefully players thought, \u2018You know what, he was awesome to learn under, he taught me so many valuable lessons through life and ultimately, I became the best person and footballer I could become\u2019. That would bring me plenty of satisfaction.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest learning in my life has just been persisting and understanding it\u2019s not always going to be perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n If you or anyone you know needs support, call Lifeline<\/a> on 131 114 or Beyond Blue<\/a> on 1300 224 636.<\/p>\n![\"Love](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/5311cb49eb8cadcb50805acd84efdbd0f3ad079f5b265b5a77a35b3eb875a898.jpeg\")
Love is in the air at 4 Pines Park for Manly coach Kieran Foran.Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"Greg](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/76ece79ebe7983ec9d1b09fabd2921b22b4e2f30.jpeg\")
Greg Foran was chief executive of Air New Zealand from 2020 to 2025. Oscar Colman<\/p>\n![\"Kieran](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ba0b3d5f13e18a206fc3746f0de60b8942875487b8d525b5359b1b29f7072c33.png\")
Kieran and Greg Foran after a New Zealand match.<\/p>\n![\"Manly](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1d4fdbcd2688332ba3727597a226810ce94ddee9.jpeg\")
Manly CEO Jason King (left) with owner Scott Penn and Kieran Foran in March when the latter was promoted from assistant coach to interim coach. Ben Symons<\/p>\n![\"Kieran](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ec6ce98650bd68c1b955864ccdb73920fedcbe84.jpeg\")
Kieran Foran and Daly Cherry-Evans arrive at the Manly Leagues Club with the NRL trophy in 2011.Janie Barrett<\/p>\n![\"Greg](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/f5c7f0dfe5fb6c659ee1c5d47490e27534ea50f7.jpeg\")
Greg Foran at the White House last month.Bloomberg<\/p>\n![\"Kieran](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4846157dd51be887b77970830f587e957f49b7d0.jpeg\")
Kieran Foran during a photoshoot in 2016 during his time at the Eels. Wolter Peeters<\/p>\n![\"Eels](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/edeeb953ed782749fad60ef78ac87865c09df1b5.jpeg\")
Eels coach Brad Arthur in 2016. Getty<\/p>\n![\"Manly](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/dfb6296b8b118a5b33d9a79a7c894aab9158be7c.jpeg\")
Manly coach Kieran Foran has had instant success after taking over from Anthony Seibold.James Brickwood<\/p>\n![\"Jake](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/6b934a4836fba9294a9c5ebe0923c20347eea975368b9d8096ddcef975861977.jpeg\")
Jake Trbojevic with coach Kieran Foran after the game against the Dragons in round six.NRL Photos<\/p>\n![\"Blues](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/07c75f4f750d71331c377d17b6eba709a9f84cd2.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n