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It is too early to pick Israel Folau

6th May, 2013
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Rene Ranger's return will have to wait as he undergoes neck surgery (Photo: Paul Barkley/LookPro)
Roar Guru
6th May, 2013
43
1048 Reads

I mean to cast no aspersions upon the ability of Israel Folau when I say he should not be chosen for the Wallabies against the Lions. I’m sure he is a decent fellow.

He seems talented and conscientious.

To be clear, I quite like the bloke.

But he has not proven himself to be a rugby man just yet.

Like many leagues before him, he has shown an interest in our code when the money is right.

Wendell Sailor, Lote Tuqiri, Mat Rogers and Timana Tahu have all come for the money and then left when either they are not as good at our game as they think they are, or in Sailor or Tuquri’s case, they blot their copy book off the field.

I realise that we are now in a professional era and one club men are few and far between in the professional ranks.

But three code men like Israel – and in less than four years?

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That’s not the rugby I grew up with.

It should not just be whether a player deserves the jersey.

It should also be whether the jersey deserves the player.

No Wallaby jersey deserves Israel just yet, regardless of the talent the scribes suggest he has.

He has not yet shown he is a rugby man.

He has not shown loyalty to the code to enable the code to show loyalty to him.

I wish him all the best. And if he is chosen as a Wallaby, I won’t blame him, I’ll blame the selectors.

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