Manly coach Kieran Foran "will start to earn his money as a coach" over the coming months as the Sea Eagles look to right the ship amid a four-game losing run.
Having successfully secured the senior coaching role at Brookvale off the back of a positive spell as interim coach in the wake of Anthony Seibold's departure earlier this year, the form under Foran has soured, with the Sea Eagles now sitting in 10th on the ladder.
A 12-48 defeat at the hands of Cronulla at 4 Pines Park on Sunday added to Manly's frustrations, with Foran now facing the biggest test of his young coaching career.
Speaking on the Loose Carry NRL Podcast, rugby league coach Lee Addison said the Sea Eagles are "going into free fall" under Foran, who now finds himself in the deep end as an NRL coach.
"They weren't just beaten (on Sunday), they were absolutely flogged. There were so many warning signs," Addison said on this week's episode.
"Foran is going to have to learn how to coach... when you take over from someone who is not popular amongst the playing group, it's easy to make everyone feel happy and get a bounce from that.
"But when the problems start to kick in, that's when you really earn your money, and now Kieran Foran will start to earn his money as a coach. He hasn't yet got the tools to deal with this. If he had, he'd have sorted it by now. They're going into free fall."
Defending Foran, Zero Tackle's Scott Pryde believes the former Sea Eagles playmaker has Manly in a position far exceeding the expectations thrust upon him from his first day in charge.
"Manly are miles ahead of where they should've been," Pryde said.
"When they lost their first three games this year, the only place they were supposed to be was in a fight for the wooden spoon."
