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WHEN Sea Eagles stalwart Peter "Zorba" Peters was asked this week for an opinion on 20-year-old Kiwi sensation Kieran Foran, he offered up an astonishing comparison.
"I was lucky enough to go to school with Bob Fulton and I watched him come through," Peters said. "This kid, he reminds me so much of Bozo."
Zorba is entitled to make comparisons. The big Manly media manager was also a premiership-winning teammate of Fulton's in 1973 and has been around the club four decades since. He marvels at Foran's raw potential, just like he did when that other blond tearaway shot to stardom back in the '60s.
"He is brilliant, tough, absolutely fearless," Peters adds of Foran.
"His shape at the same age reminds me of Bob Fulton, also his ability to knuckle down at training.
"Bozo is the greatest player to ever play at our club, and to put him already in that class ... look, we have had some great five-eighths ... Cliffy Lyons, Alan Thompson was another.
"But this kid will take his place alongside our great five-eighths."
Foran is indeed a special talent, the type good judges can't stop talking about.
Wally Lewis, Laurie Daley, Andrew Johns, they've all boarded the Foran bandwagon, blown away by his courage, and uncanny ability to come up with a match-turning play.
They cheer how he can whack like a back-rower in defence, yet gets up off the deck every time he gets crunched.
Halfback of the Century Johns has played a big part in reshaping the former St Ives schoolboy from fullback to five-eighth.
For more than two years they have been working closely, since Des Hasler took a punt on an unknown teenager when he handed Foran a plane ticket to England for the World Club Challenge at the start of 2009. Before he had even debuted in first grade.
By the end of the season, Foran was a Kiwi Test player.
He is currently second on the Dally M Medal count behind Kangaroo halfback Johnathan Thurston.
"I'm not a natural ballplayer, it is something I have had to work really hard on," he explains.
"I played fullback up until I was about 13 or 14 and I switched to the centres after that. It wasn't until about 17 that I moved into the five-eighth role. Dave Penna (Manly's under-20s coach) decided to make that switch.
"I remember when I first tried to kick a footy I was hopeless. I was just a runner - just catch the ball and show and go. But the last couple of years, doing the extra work with Joey, it's probably starting to show."
Johns says Foran's rise has thrived on ability and guts. But try and comprehend, he says, the player we will see in five years from now.
Off the field, the young Sea Eagle is equally impressive.
When Foran turned up on Fox Sports' post-match Monday Night Football this week, viewers were blown away by the 20-year-old's confidence on live TV. Yet people at Manly will tell you there isn't a more level-headed kid in the club.
He talks with such a laid-back tone you can't help but be impressed by his maturity and modesty.
"I constantly remind myself that it is great to get these accolades but it is about improving each week," he continues. "I'm still 20, so I love to do what 20-year-olds do. I still enjoy going out, but you certainly have to pick the times and places.
"It just comes down to you being wise enough to know when it is OK to enjoy a couple of beers after a game, and knowing when you need to go home. It just comes down to being responsible."
He makes it sound so simple, you wish some of his peers could listen to his advice.
Foran moved to Australia from Auckland when he was still in primary school. His father Greg is one of Woolworths' top national executives. He recalls how he and his brother Liam kicked around with a kid called Mitch Pearce.
"We ended up going to the same primary school, St Ives North," Foran remembers. "He was two grades above me, in Liam's year.
"I got to meet Mitch through that and we were always close."
It makes you wonder what it would look like having him beside Pearce in this current NSW team.
You ask him if he ever considered turning his back on the Kiwis so he could be eligible for Origin? "No, never," he says. "Origin is a great thing, a massive occasion. I love watching it, but it was a simple answer from me.
"The moment I could walk it was about playing for the Kiwis. Stacey Jones, Ruben Wiki ... they were the guys I idolised."
This week the debate was raised again: should overseas players who grew up in Australia be allowed to play Origin? Some say it's the way the game must grow. Foran says the decision is not his to make.
"I want to make my point really clear. I'm a Kiwi and one of the proudest Kiwis out there," he says.
"For me, it's about playing for New Zealand. But if the rules ever changed, I'm sure there would be plenty of us who would jump at the opportunity."
This kid is rated now by every great judge of the game,
"I was lucky enough to go to school with Bob Fulton and I watched him come through," Peters said. "This kid, he reminds me so much of Bozo."
Zorba is entitled to make comparisons. The big Manly media manager was also a premiership-winning teammate of Fulton's in 1973 and has been around the club four decades since. He marvels at Foran's raw potential, just like he did when that other blond tearaway shot to stardom back in the '60s.
"He is brilliant, tough, absolutely fearless," Peters adds of Foran.
"His shape at the same age reminds me of Bob Fulton, also his ability to knuckle down at training.
"Bozo is the greatest player to ever play at our club, and to put him already in that class ... look, we have had some great five-eighths ... Cliffy Lyons, Alan Thompson was another.
"But this kid will take his place alongside our great five-eighths."
Foran is indeed a special talent, the type good judges can't stop talking about.
Wally Lewis, Laurie Daley, Andrew Johns, they've all boarded the Foran bandwagon, blown away by his courage, and uncanny ability to come up with a match-turning play.
They cheer how he can whack like a back-rower in defence, yet gets up off the deck every time he gets crunched.
Halfback of the Century Johns has played a big part in reshaping the former St Ives schoolboy from fullback to five-eighth.
For more than two years they have been working closely, since Des Hasler took a punt on an unknown teenager when he handed Foran a plane ticket to England for the World Club Challenge at the start of 2009. Before he had even debuted in first grade.
By the end of the season, Foran was a Kiwi Test player.
He is currently second on the Dally M Medal count behind Kangaroo halfback Johnathan Thurston.
"I'm not a natural ballplayer, it is something I have had to work really hard on," he explains.
"I played fullback up until I was about 13 or 14 and I switched to the centres after that. It wasn't until about 17 that I moved into the five-eighth role. Dave Penna (Manly's under-20s coach) decided to make that switch.
"I remember when I first tried to kick a footy I was hopeless. I was just a runner - just catch the ball and show and go. But the last couple of years, doing the extra work with Joey, it's probably starting to show."
Johns says Foran's rise has thrived on ability and guts. But try and comprehend, he says, the player we will see in five years from now.
Off the field, the young Sea Eagle is equally impressive.
When Foran turned up on Fox Sports' post-match Monday Night Football this week, viewers were blown away by the 20-year-old's confidence on live TV. Yet people at Manly will tell you there isn't a more level-headed kid in the club.
He talks with such a laid-back tone you can't help but be impressed by his maturity and modesty.
"I constantly remind myself that it is great to get these accolades but it is about improving each week," he continues. "I'm still 20, so I love to do what 20-year-olds do. I still enjoy going out, but you certainly have to pick the times and places.
"It just comes down to you being wise enough to know when it is OK to enjoy a couple of beers after a game, and knowing when you need to go home. It just comes down to being responsible."
He makes it sound so simple, you wish some of his peers could listen to his advice.
Foran moved to Australia from Auckland when he was still in primary school. His father Greg is one of Woolworths' top national executives. He recalls how he and his brother Liam kicked around with a kid called Mitch Pearce.
"We ended up going to the same primary school, St Ives North," Foran remembers. "He was two grades above me, in Liam's year.
"I got to meet Mitch through that and we were always close."
It makes you wonder what it would look like having him beside Pearce in this current NSW team.
You ask him if he ever considered turning his back on the Kiwis so he could be eligible for Origin? "No, never," he says. "Origin is a great thing, a massive occasion. I love watching it, but it was a simple answer from me.
"The moment I could walk it was about playing for the Kiwis. Stacey Jones, Ruben Wiki ... they were the guys I idolised."
This week the debate was raised again: should overseas players who grew up in Australia be allowed to play Origin? Some say it's the way the game must grow. Foran says the decision is not his to make.
"I want to make my point really clear. I'm a Kiwi and one of the proudest Kiwis out there," he says.
"For me, it's about playing for New Zealand. But if the rules ever changed, I'm sure there would be plenty of us who would jump at the opportunity."
This kid is rated now by every great judge of the game,
