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Foran makes call to retire after 16 years of toughness
Scott Bailey, AAP • July 11th, 2025 2:59 pm
Kieran Foran has called time on his NRL career and will finish at the end of the season | Photo: AP
Kieran Foran will close the curtain on one of rugby league's most-storied careers after confirming his plans to retire at the end of 2025.
One of rugby league's great survivors, Foran is set to finish with close to 315 NRL games to his name when he plays his final match for Gold Coast in September.
Foran's retirement comes as questions swirl around the future of coach Des Hasler at the club, with the Titans sitting last and looking unlikely to make finals.
Kieran Foran's retirement coincides with uncertainty surrounding the future of coach Des Hasler (r) | Photo: Dave Hunt/AAP
A premiership-winner at Manly in 2011, Foran also played 31 Tests for New Zealand and is the last player in the NRL to have debuted during the 2000s decade.
But beyond all that, Foran will finish as one of the toughest halves to play the game in the NRL era, after a career that experienced more highs and lows than most.
The Kiwi, who turns 35 on Sunday, debuted under Hasler at Manly in 2009 as a hard-running five-eighth, regularly putting his body through the ringer when taking the line on or putting on hits in defence.
He won a premiership as a 21-year-old, partnering with Daly Cherry-Evans as one of the youngest combinations in the game's history to take a team to the title.
Foran (r) celebrates Manly's 2011 grand-final win over the NZ Warriors with Glenn Stewart | Photo: Dean Lewins/AAP
But when the five-eighth was lured to Parramatta in 2016 on a mega four-year deal, the playmaker's path changed significantly.
He experienced highly publicised personal issues and has since revealed the mental demons he fought through that period.
Foran ended up leaving the Eels for the Warriors after one season, but admitted then it was the toll he put on his body that began to catch up with him.
He played just 57 games across four seasons at the Warriors and then Canterbury, at one stage prompting fears of a medical retirement due to a shoulder injury.
Foran leaves the field with an injury during Parramatta's match against Newcastle in 2016 | Photo: Darren Pateman/AAP
Foran persisted though, earned a lifeline under Hasler at Manly in 2021 before helping take them back to preliminary final in his first season back at Brookvale.
The No.6 was eventually squeezed out at the end of 2022, but had done enough to extend his career on the Gold Coast.
It was there Hasler ultimately joined him in 2024, after making a shock return to coaching at the Titans.
Foran reached the 300-game milestone last year, perhaps the most unlikely member of the 55-man group given the fact his career looked over six years ago.
Injuries sadly played a big part in Foran's career | Photo: Jason O'BRIEN/AAP
"That's something I am so grateful for and proud of," Foran told AAP on reaching the milestone last year.
"It's just staying in the fight. If this could be an example or message to anyone out there, it's that good things can come if you stay in the fight.
"I'd got to 26 or 27 or 28 and my body just fell apart. Just through sheer wear and tear and not looking after it the way I should have in the early stages of my career.
"I would say to the missus: 'Is it worth me keeping going if I'm not playing the footy I want to play? Is my body going to get back to where I need it to?'"
