Israel Folau signing another win for the AFL

Maybe in a decade from now, this will be a chapter in itself on 'How the West was won'.

Interesting article from the Bronco' magazine about the poaching of their stars: "POWERFUL BRONCOS BRAND AGAIN SALUTED Andrew Condon, Australian managing director of M & C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment, says the recent recruitment of Falou and Hunt was a further testament to the systems and processes that was made the WOW Brisbane Broncos a power brand of Australian sport. 'On the surface it looks as though the club that nurtured the likes of Lote Tuqiri, Wendell Sailor and Brad Thorn to dual international status has simply lost two of its finest athletes,' Condon explained. 'But not so in my opinion. The fact the AFL has made its first raids on rugby league at Red Hill is no coincidence. They obviously recognise a market-leading brand when they see one. The AFL has ridden their expansion areas on the back of big names representing a powerful & dominant brand. Rather than feel dejected at the losses, the player development and marketing staff at the Broncos should take a bow... ...to be named No.1 team among all football codes in Australia last year is testament to the supremacy of their brand." And Mr Condon said it was this strength of brand - as much as anything- that was the reason the Broncos produced more code jumpers than any other NRL club. " The ability of the Broncos to identify , develop and market its key talent as some of Australia's best athletes is the reason it has lost more players than any other club...""

That's not actually true. AFL is always reported up here.Obviously not to the same extent as League. Aussie rules has been in Sydney since since the early 1900's. Many people do not realise that the VFL and Rugby Union fought to win the hearts of Sydney siders before 1908 but both lost out to the newly formed Rugby League.

funny thing - last week someone whinged that Melb Herald Sun - supposed 'number 1 in sport' didn't carry anything on the previous nights SoO, and yet my copy at home had it on the back page (photo) and a full page in on p.82, I can only suggest that some people make the mistake at times of looking at a country edition (perhaps Sydney Airport edition??) that won't have ANY of the previous evenings results......AFL, or NRL. Either that - - or the guy was just whinging about an imagined wrong without checking any sort of facts!!!

Michael - read the Herald-Sun...something about Storm every day. Sometimes little about some of the AFL clubs, which all have bigger attendances & members. By contrast, SMH & Telegrah often have zero about Swans, who do get bigger attendances, & have largest membership of any Sydney football club!

Is the AFL scared of NRL. I used to think they werent but i have changed my mind. Lets face it AFL is only played in the Rust Bucket states where 48% of the population live. They have to expand for sure or, they are going backwards. They are clever at marketing, clever at get the $'s but i kinda think this might backfire. This smacks of just pure publicity for the GWS outfit. I think the AFL are treading on dangerous territory with this one. People i am talking to are all very unhappy with this latest development and if anything it wont make them support the GWS. Look Kevin Sheedy's chance as staying on as coach is very remote to say the least and so they need publicity little "teasers" to send out to instill some interest in whatwill happen. TV rights are coming up , so better get a move on with the "teasers" to generate publicity. The facts are that AFL is not in as good a shape in Sydney now than it was a few years back. Interest is gone down a lot.

I'm sorry...but that is the most IGNORANT comment i've read so far. Out of 10 pages of sport in a daily paper, the AFL get at least 2 pages. In Melbourne, what exactly do the Melbourne Storm get?...a snippet...if that. Your sport Zach, is not higher than mighty and despite your and your fellow supporters arrogance, along with that of your Codes CEO, the AFL will never overrule NRL in NSW and QLD, despite throwing money everywhere and shoving the game down people's throats. The AFL get more than a fair go in NSW, and a much fairer go than League gets in Melbourne where the game is treated with contempt. Therefore, your comment is a joke.

Danwighton is correct, The AFL will be in a win/win situation initially. People will watch Hunt and Folau for 2 reasons. 1. That they will fail miserably. 2. that they will become stars. Either way it will quickly become apparent whether they make it or not and then we can all get back to the business of watching our own preferred game!!!.

I think AFL should be very careful with Hunt and Folau. Once a Rugby League player fails in another sport because of their lack of aerobic skills (the reason Robbie Deans dropped the best RL convert, Lote Tuquiri , from the Wallabies) they go straight back to their very parochial sport and bag the other code. There is no acknowledgement that they didn't have the skills to play the other code. It is all the fault of the other players for not giving them the opportunity to shine - and it was too boring. RL fans take their comments as gospel. SMH RL writer Brad Walter was amazed to write last week that Craig Gower wasn't bored living in Bayonne, that it wasn't boring playing rugby for Bayonne in the Top 14. He was even more amazed that Sonny Bill Williams said he loved playing for Toulon before 50,000 people in the European Challenge Cup Final against Cardiff in Marseilles. However, these were guys who had made it switching codes. For the guys who didn't make it, though, there is no admission of failure, just conceipt on their part. Timana Tahu claims he gave up a place in a rugby world cup because of his love for rugby league forgetting that he could no longer get a start for the NSW Waratahs and was the worst tackler in Australian rugby history worst ever defeat because he missed at least ten tackles agianst the Springboks. It is such a laugh to hear Ray 'Rabbits" Warren to talk about the 'huge' Tiimana when he makes those 'huge' tackles against Phil Gould's 'biggest' player in the world, Jamal Idris, when rugby union has players much bigger, much faster running around every day in Super rugby - and much more aerobic. Phil Gould's hyperbole that Jarrod Hayne is the greatest athlete in the world jars when he is only competing against the Morris brothers from the Illawarra. Rugby union with its speed of engagement, passing etc is much closer to AFL than league. However, as a world game, as compared to RL, its players can play professinally in France, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Italy and Japan at pay levels commensurate with what is being paid to Israel Folau. That is the reason why no champion rugby (union) player will leave to play RL or AFL.

first of all, if you think carrying a football and being tackled (from front on, not 360' like AFL) and occasionally giving off a 5 mtr "throw" pass is skill then il have to take your words for it, the kicking in league is pathetic to say the least, most decently built AFL players givin the right time and training could play NRL, without a doubt, if you think Ablett junior couldnt have converted when he was 19/20/21 than you really have no idea, super strong through the hips, super evasive, great footwork, incredible creative kick, TBH, i reckon he would be almost better suited to league than AFL, if his old man was born 1000ks further north he wouldve just about rewrote your record books, i have no doubt about that, 6''4, 100kg, super quick, powerfull athlete, you need to remember the current AFL players would need to bulk up to play your sport, just like hunt and israel will need to slim down to play ours, also regarding code hoppers to have played AFL, none have really become super stars, jim stynes won a brownlow as a ruckman, but he wouldve been 50 to 1 with the bookies, dont think for one minute that he was ever in the top 50 players in the comp, the real AFL stars have played it there whole life pretty much, they have all the skills, they kick/handball on opposite sides of there bodys (try that at home) whilst some irish guys have made a career in the AFL, you'd be hard pressed to call any of them stars.

"Imagine Alex Ferguson signing up Gary Ablett. At the press conference Gary says that he watched a couple of EPL games on Fox, and even attended a few Melbourne Victory games, but never played the game. Alex leans over and shakes his hand and says ‘Welcome to Old Trafford’." Exactly, shows AFL up for the joke of a game it is. You don't need any particular skills to play it. Not only did they let someone who has never played the game before, walk into the first team, they paid him $1 000 000 a season to do so. Massive lol

I cannot see how anyone can argue how Folau could turn down $6m, and now become the highest paid player in AFL . The AFL has finally dropped the talk that they just want to offer an alternative, they are coming after League. I wish them all the best, Union said that same when they had a warchest after the World Cup. What this will ensure, is that all those league fans that dabbled in AFL will be turned off, nothing is surer. Why would you support something that is trying to kill off something that you love. In terms of the 'Marketing Effect' that is all good and well if this team was kicking off next month, which is about as long as this story will run, and then will be pushed into the back pages of sport. Imagine Alex Ferguson signing up Gary Ablett. At the press conference Gary says that he watched a couple of EPL games on Fox, and even attended a few Melbourne Victory games, but never played the game. Alex leans over and shakes his hand and says 'Welcome to Old Trafford'. Farce.

what do you mean by that?

yes, the footy has been great this year (and the last few), and the game is growing in many ways at the moment, thats not my point. i enjoy watching the toyota cup, but there arent that many players with the ability to step up. my point is, you say the comp is better as sbw has been replaced by burgess and taylor, i say the comp would be better with burgess, taylor and sbw all playing! and you could of picked a better player than tomane! he is absolutely nothing special!

AKA, Tom Williams from the Western Bulldogs didn't start playing AFL untill he was 18… played rugby union as a kid at five-eight of fullback

Brian Taylor won't embrace the Melbourne victory who's crowd averages are nearly double the storm's. He does this because he, like many other AFListas fear the long term growth of football

Who does Taylor think he is kidding when he says, why can't Sydney embrace all codes like Melbourne does? Still it's hard to sympathise with Kent when he know's full well how the Rugby League media treats World Football in Sydney.

It's hardly a win. It's a sign of desperation. The afl has a limited pipeline of players and is resorting to paying big money for a guy who has never played the game. Likewise they go to places like Argentina or California because kids and adults aren't interested in playing afl in Australia. A desperate sport run by an arrogant CEO

Brian Taylor just smoked a bitter Paul Kent on the Backpage after he sooked about Folau and GWS.

Absolute joke that WILL backfire badly.