MARK ‘SPUDD’ CARROLL: Kieran Foran has what it takes to coach Manly as their NRL head coach

Call off the search party – there’s no need for Manly to pretend it is canvassing other candidates for the head coaching job.

The Sea Eagles have found their man in Kieran Foran so let’s wind up the audition and give him the keys to Brookvale for the next few years.

It’s time to remove the “interim” from his title and let him get on with it.

As my old coach Bob Fulton would have said – “Hello? What are you waiting for …Jack Gibson to come back from the dead?”

I wrote last month – before Foz took over as interim coach – that the Sea Eagles needed an experienced old hard head like Brad Arthur to take the reins from 2027.

I argued BA had runs on the board and dirt under his fingernails after coaching Parramatta for 264 games.

He’d encountered just about everything this coaching caper throws at you and was the man you want for a rebuild.

It wasn’t like I was against the idea of Foz of being a coach. I just feared it might have come too soon.

At 35 he could still be out there calling the shots. He’s the closest we’ve got to an old-fashioned captain-coach.

It appears I was wrong about that although I did say at the time: “Like me, Foran has a deep love for the club and its fans and will be fully invested in turning this dreadful start to the season around.

“If he does, the top job is his for years to come.

“And as a former Manly man, I truly hope it works out.”

Three wins later and it is working out, regardless of what happens from here.

Players want to play for Foran and that’s something you just can’t manufacture.

I recently saw footage of him running a Manly training session.

And when I say running, I mean literally running it.

He had ball in his hand performing the drill as if he were still a player.

And that’s the thing. At 35 he could still be out there calling the shots.

He’s the closest we’ve got to an old-fashioned captain-coach.

Bozo was one of the last to take on both roles some 40-odd years ago but he used to tell me it was easier in some ways because he could be out there directing the players rather than telling them what to do.

There is too much going on in the modern game for the captain-coach role to be revived but Manly are benefitting from having bloke in charge who was a player not that long ago and still thinks like one.

He knows opposition players and team patterns intimately because he was lining up against them just 12 months ago.

What I thought might be his weakness – turning to coaching soon so soon after playing – is actually a positive.

It reminds me of my young bloke Josh, who is an absolute wizard with all things tech and computers.

What he can do blows my 59-year-old mind but that’s because he’s at the cutting edge and lives and breathes this stuff.

Kieran is the same when he it comes to rugby league. He has an exceptionally high footy IQ and is up with all the modern trends because he’s just come off a 15-year on-field education.

On top of that, he has every single Manly fan in his corner.

Why would you look anywhere else?

AND DON’T GET ME STARTED

As one coaching career prepares to take off, another has ended after St George Illawarra finally ripped the Band-Aid off and sacked Shane Flanagan.

No one likes to see anyone lose their job but Flanno can’t say he wasn’t given the necessary time and tools to at least build the Dragons into a half competitive force.

As it stands, they are a complete rabble.

Eleven consecutive losses stretching back to last season tells part of the story but I think Flanno dug his own grave with some of the roster choices he made.

Damien Cook, Val Holmes and Clint Gutherson were all very good players in their day but Father Time is undefeated and catches up with all of us.

Daniel Atkinson was brought over from Cronulla but failed to strike a blow, while the coach’s son Kyle was given the keys to the side but never really emerged as the dominant playmaker they needed.

The Red V finished 11th and 15th in Shane Flanagan’s first two years and they are currently stone motherless last and headed towards the spoon.

Something had to give and the coach had to go.

Despite being a premiership winner at the Sharks, I can’t see Flanno at 60 picking up another head coaching role.

So where to from here for the misfiring Dragons?

Can I throw a left-field option at you?

How about they target former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika instead of just recycling another ex-Dragons player.

He is doing great things as an assistant to Trent Robinson at the Roosters and is a very astute operator who thinks about the game a little differently to most.

And wherever he goes, he wins.

It’s just the sort of daring change of direction this boring club needs.