Thoughts on Folau to rugby
- Thread starter Jnor
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BellyTwoBlues
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You won't.
But I'm happy to put my head on the block for this one. At 1.42pm on 11th December after making so many attempts to contact Isaac Moses the manager of Israel Folau over the previous weeks, I received a call from Isaac. It was the shortest phone call ever. It went exactly like this:
Belly: Hi Isaac, thanks for ringing back, understand you've would have had every club in Sydney calling you.
Isaac: I've been on holiday. He's going to Uni
Belly: Really? What? I'm stunned, we don't even get an opportunity to discuss?
Isaac: He has friends out there. That's where he's going. I gotta go.
The call then ended with the usual thanks for calling pleasantries.
I have subsequently had a discusssion with the Uni GM. He is the best GM in the comp and is a genuine nice bloke and someone I have a lot of time for. He told me no-one from Uni at that stage had spoken to Israel but the President was interested in seeing if he is the 'right fit' for the club.
Then today, I have been told, again by someone very close to Izzy's management, that the Tahs have told him he has 2 choices. Uni or Randwick.................
And the whole disgrace of this issue rears its ugly head all over again. I've had a week off after a very difficult 3 months and to be honest, thoroughly enjoyed not thinking about rugby for a week! But then I came home...............to this rubbish!
For the record, whilst I'd love to see Izzy playing (or atleast aligned) with us, what is the disgrace in all of this is that he will not be joining a Western Sydney club. Whether it's us, Penrith or Wests, it effectively doesnt matter. As long as he's out here. Other people have made mention, if he was to actually play for Uni or Randwick, it's just another number to them. A few local bar flies may get interested but that's about it. But if he actually did play for Penrith or Parramatta (at home) then the grounds would be filled to breaking point. And most importantly, rugby would instantly gain credibility and a prescence here.
I have said in a private message to someone on this thread, the issue is that since the announcement of the GWS AFL invasion, league, soccer and afl have been at war in the press over western Sydney. There was even a debate I saw on Fox Sports over a year ago that had JON, David Gallop, the Soccer CEO and a bloke from NSW AFL. The 3 other codes got into passionate debate about western Sydney and JON said sweet FA...... And this has been rugby's policy in certainly the last 3 years I have been around! With Folau, they had an opportunity, to stick their flag in their sand and say to 10% of Australia's population, we're here too!
It appears, they just couldn't give a shit!
It's not sad, it's a disgrace.
The GM's were even subjected to a load of horseshit from Cheika at a recent GM's meeting where he said every club and every player will be treated equally under his watch and that this is the new world of looking after the integrity of the competition from the top.
That's all well and good, however it appears the equality will only come into play after his old club is looked after first!
p.Tah
John Thornett (49)
He trained with Randwick the other day, so we'll see.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...-rugby-continues/story-fn8ti7yn-1226542439965
I'd say there is probably some additional incentive that attracted him to those clubs. I hope that incentive is enough to keep him in the game beyond his one year contract.
In any rate as disappointing as it is that he won't be aligned with a western Sydney team, let's hope the 'powers that be' have the foresight to schedule his team to play the away games agains Parra or Penrith at a time Izzy is expected to play one of his three or so Shute Shield games. At least he will feature in those regions.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...-rugby-continues/story-fn8ti7yn-1226542439965
I'd say there is probably some additional incentive that attracted him to those clubs. I hope that incentive is enough to keep him in the game beyond his one year contract.
In any rate as disappointing as it is that he won't be aligned with a western Sydney team, let's hope the 'powers that be' have the foresight to schedule his team to play the away games agains Parra or Penrith at a time Izzy is expected to play one of his three or so Shute Shield games. At least he will feature in those regions.
It is what it is
John Solomon (38)
Have you taken this up with Cheika directly to confirm this is the case, or just fired both barrels here on GAGR?
I don't think the Uni GM would have approached such an issue in this manner.
en_force_er
Geoff Shaw (53)
Why would they say Uni or Randwick? Randwick are looking pear shaped for 2013.
liquor box
Peter Sullivan (51)
Maybe he just wants to play for Uni or Randwick, no big conspiracy involved, he might just want to fianlly play for a club of his choice. His income (for those who claim he is all about money) is based on his S15 games, I doubt he really gets paid for an occasional club game so he possibly just want to choose his club.
I may be far from the mark, but Randwick and Uni would be the two highest profile clubs in Sydney Rugby and if you were not a keen follower of club rugby and only had a passing interest then it would be easy for these two clubs to be the only clubs you had regularly heard of, and theirfore your clubs of choice.
I would love to see him at a lower profile club, but would it make a difference? Will playing one or two club games actually do anything for Rugby as a whole? What he does for the Tahs is what is important
I may be far from the mark, but Randwick and Uni would be the two highest profile clubs in Sydney Rugby and if you were not a keen follower of club rugby and only had a passing interest then it would be easy for these two clubs to be the only clubs you had regularly heard of, and theirfore your clubs of choice.
I would love to see him at a lower profile club, but would it make a difference? Will playing one or two club games actually do anything for Rugby as a whole? What he does for the Tahs is what is important
wamberal
Phil Kearns (64)
Yes, it would make a difference. TPN's involvement with the Two Blues, for example, is worth a lot to that club. Whether he actually plays for them or not, the fact that he is prepared to turn up at training and that his name is associated with Parramatta is a great thing for the game as a whole.
Of course Folau's role with the Tahs is important. But unless club rugby thrives, especially in the areas of growing population like Western Sydney, there will be fewer and fewer spectators and supporters.
My club, Eastwood, provides a lot of playing opportunities for senior players, but particularly for junior players, the kids that are essential to the on-going health of the sport. Sydney University, on the other hand, has never attracted a single kid to the game, other than for a little bit of window-dressing in the last few years.
It seems pretty obvious where our marquee players should be showing their faces, and it is not at Camperdown, that is for sure.
I like to watch
David Codey (61)
It would make a difference to a low profile club.The point for me is that a high profile player comes along and the only 2 clubs in contention are Uni,who have to roster players on and off because they have too many stars.And the coach's old club.
It wouldn't matter if there were sound reasons for ignoring the other 10 clubs, it would still look shit,and perceptions are reality.
Torn Hammy
Johnnie Wallace (23)
I have been thinking that the strength and conditioning programs of these clubs might be important, given his loss of bulk.
It is a disgrace. Maybe someone in marketing at NSWRU will ask themselves why the AFL paid him $1.5 million to play out in the west.
K
kbw
Guest
Khunt, I think not.
Fair at RL, unknown at RU and crap at AFL.
An overrated hack that rode the coattails of much better players
en_force_er
Geoff Shaw (53)
Here's another angle about the Sydney Uni club thing.
Now, given that Penrith is very far away from Folau's place of business (and probably reasonably far away from his place of residence) and that Para is far away from his work (during peak hour traffic aka training times) doesn't it make sense for him not play at either of those clubs?
Sure, this doesn't mean he has to go to Uni but it DOES make the clubs most are touting ridiculous options.
One might make the counterpoint that he won't often play there anyway but that could be just as easily an argument against him playing at Para/Penrith anyway.
Now, given that Penrith is very far away from Folau's place of business (and probably reasonably far away from his place of residence) and that Para is far away from his work (during peak hour traffic aka training times) doesn't it make sense for him not play at either of those clubs?
Sure, this doesn't mean he has to go to Uni but it DOES make the clubs most are touting ridiculous options.
One might make the counterpoint that he won't often play there anyway but that could be just as easily an argument against him playing at Para/Penrith anyway.
I like to watch
David Codey (61)
That's silly, you infer that he will have to leave his place of business 3 times a week to go to Penrith training.
That's not the case.
In any event distance is not the only measure for commuting times in Sydney.Drive from Redfern to Bondi at the wrong time, and it will take longer than Kellyville to Penrith.
Signing with Uni would be a fucking disgrace, instead of being a marquee signing he might not even make the run on side at full strength.That the other club in the running, is aligned with the coach is disappointing,especially when the same club has signed props from Penrith and he/they are then placed in the extend Tah's squad.The perception must be that he is not playing favourites, unfortunately that is not currently the case.
en_force_er
Geoff Shaw (53)
Disagree all you want but I hardly think what I'm saying is ridiculous or "silly".
I did not infer that he would training with Penrith/Para 3 times a week, I inferred that it would be a long inconvenient drive from his place of work (where the Tahs train). Like I somewhat DID infer in the last post, it's not about how far his house is from any given club, it's how far away the club is from where he WORKS (because that's where he'll be driving from at 5:30 to training in peak hour traffic).
I am not saying his signing with Uni is good but I am saying that certainly Penrith and perhaps even Para are quite cumbersome to get to on the times he'd have to get there.
There's plenty of other clubs around who might be perceived as part of the blazer brigade but that are in reality not doing that well.
T
TOCC
Guest
If he is happy to transit from the West to Moore Park every day then I don't think traveling to Syd Uni twice a week is going to be an issue
I like to watch
David Codey (61)
My apologies,it's not silly but I do disagree with you,as you infer that it would be a regular occurrence(otherwise it is not an issue).
Of the Super players I know of that came back to the SS last year,they never trained with both squads on the same day.
If they released you to play SS, you were not required to be present with the Super squad.
Of the Super players I know of that came back to the SS last year,they never trained with both squads on the same day.
If they released you to play SS, you were not required to be present with the Super squad.
en_force_er
Geoff Shaw (53)
No I didn't infer that, I literally said: "One might make the counterpoint that he won't often play there anyway but that could be just as easily an argument against him playing at Para/Penrith anyway."
This can be taken to mean that I don't think that the "he won't play there often" is a good argument for either side of the issue. Namely a Syd Uni supporter can say "it's not unfair he's come to my club because it's not like he'll play here often" or a Penrith fan can say "it doesn't matter that travelling to Penrith is far away because he won't play there often anyway". It's a point that can be brought up on either side of the issue and is thus null and void. Those who think Folau would be doing community work for Penrith directly are dreaming because only players that go above and beyond do that (Turner and TPN are examples), the Tahs can still deploy Folau to schools deep in the Western Suburbs for visits without having to associate him with a Western Suburbs club.
To point to AFL as an example of why the Penrith to Tahs link is uncommon, it's a known fact that Melbourne FC players that don't make the match day team really hate having to go out and play for Casey in the VFL because it's far away from where they live and train. However, they are forced to play there. Maybe this is a lesson that the Tahs should have forced him to go to Penrith/Para (I'd be fine with that) but it also shows that players probably won't make that decision on their own merits.
I'm not surprised that players don't have to train for both the Tahs and their SS team in the same day but I doubt they'd be told not to come into work because they've got to check in with the medical team, do their match analysis, do their sponsorship/media duties, etc. I can't see them being given a day off, they're an employee.
Finally, I'd like to say "NO, I don't think Folau playing for Uni is good" but I really don't like conspiracy theorists and people who are anti-establishment just because. Even the Parra GM has said that Izzy's management cited he was playing for Uni because he had mates there, not because people at the Tahs pointed him that direction.
K
kbw
Guest
Khunt was not the youngest player to represent Australia and in my opinion should never have done so either.
If not for injury to more than 2 NRL fullbacks he would not have.
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