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Let me start by saying that I am an unashamed Israel Folau fan and think that he is one of the very best footballers in Australia of any description.
It’s probably not a stretch to say that, considering his young age, he has revolutionized some aspects of the game of rugby league and successfully brought the game to many Victorian fans who would have once known very little about it.
One unfortunate aspect about the current speculation of whether Folau will follow the money trail or stick with what he does best is that it presents an opportunity for people to make silly comments about certain football codes in the absence of any empirical evidence.
So I was pleased to read some intelligent commentary on the subject on the weekend in The Sunday Age, from no less an expert than the Storm’s very own physical performance coach, Alex Corvo.
Most are already aware that Folau is not a noted kicker of the footy in League currently, so that immediately puts him behind Hunt in terms of the capacity to adapt relatively quickly (in what is already going to be a very big ask for Hunt to begin with).
Corvo made the further observation that a great an athlete as Folau is (and he’s certainly that), he is conditioned for short, powerful bursts rather than constant running.
Many league fans are probably unaware that in your average 120 minute Australian Football game, even allowing for the many breaks players have in the modern game with an unlimited interchange, about 18 of the 22 players are running 16 to 18 kilometres per game at an average pace that would make most mortals physically sick within five minutes.
Think about running ten 100 metre sprints in less than three minutes, and you’ll start to get a picture of the exertion and aerobic capacity demanded of most players these days.
Corvo makes the surprising admission that in his days at the Storm, Folau often trailed the forwards in endurance drills.
He wryly says further: “He’s not an aerobic athlete at all … the unlimited interchange in the AFL will certainly get a workout with Israel in the team.”
His main chance is to be played in one of those positions where he’s not running 16 to 18 kilometres per game, but could he really hold down a key position?
In any event, even a specialist key position forward like Barry Hall is running 12 kilometres, much of that made up of one 50 to 60 metre sprint after the other, over and over and over. And he might only touch the ball once every five or six of those sprints, or not at all for a whole quarter.
So without showing any disrespect at all to Folau, it’s really a double whammy: no kicking skills and lacking the requisite aerobic capacity.
If the AFL were to throw $1 million a year at such a player, it would so obviously be a publicity stunt, and potentially, it could prove so humiliating for the player concerned, that I’m not sure the stunt is worth the risk.
If it’s true Folau has been offered the money, I hope for his own sake, and that of the AFL, that he rejects it and continues doing what he does best.
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