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One of the perplexing matters surrounding the will-he-won’t-he? sign up with the Waratahs and the ARU is why the Israel Folau matter was such a drawn out affair.
It was clear from his sensational debut in the first Test against the British and Irish Lions, from his high try tally for the Waratahs and then the intercept try last weekend against the All Blacks that Folau was a must-have player for Australian rugby.
He ticks a lot of boxes. He is a game-changing X-factor player, when he puts his mind and body on to the task. He is also box office magic. Spectators and especially kids will come out to watch him play. He puts bums on seats, in other words, and he puts points on the scoreboard.
There was the fear that the long-protracted negotiations to stay in rugby had more to do with testing out how much money league could offer him to return than with trying to settle outstanding details.
The danger here is that Folau would emulate Lote Tuqiri, a player who screwed the ARU to an exorbitant package while all the time bagging the game.
Wendell Sailor, Mat Rogers and Tuqiri have gone through this pattern of taking the money and not really running enough to justify it. We don’t want Folau to take the same mercenary path.
Folau needs to tell the rugby public here that he loves playing rugby for the Waratahs and the Wallabies. And that he is joining up for two years because he genuinely wants to be a great Wallaby to leave his mark on the game.
As it happens, the timing of the announcement is relevant. Next week the Waratahs open their membership lists for the 2014 season. Having Folau on board should help sales for a franchise that has lost almost half its spectator numbers in the last few years. Hopefully, Folau will provide box office magic for the embattled Waratahs.
With Kurtley Beale back, it seems obvious (or is to me) that Folau will play on the wing, Beale will be fullback, Bernard Foley at fly half and Ashley-Cooper at centre. This gives the Waratahs four very good attacking players to play Michael Cheika’s ball-in-hand game.
There is a lot of debate about whether fullback is Folau’s best position. To be honest, I doubt whether he has the positional sense and the ability to read the defensive line coming up to tackle him after a high ball that, say, the other Israel, Mr Dagg, has in spades.
At fullback for the Waratahs, Folau looked to be frozen at times and too willing to pass off the ball to other players to run or kick away.
As a winger, Folau can chase the ball, as Julian Savea does. He is available for bombs near the opposition tryline. Wingers are essentially unmarked. So Folau can come into the line out wide, or come in near to the forwards.
Fullback is a more circumscribed position.
But if Folau is to make the most of playing on the wing, he has to increase his work rate. Right now he is, in my opinion, a lazy player. He hasn’t shown any hustle when things go wrong at the back. He is not much of a chaser of kicks, although, to be fair, in the second half at Wellington he successfully chased a couple of kick-offs. Good work.
The signing should help ticket sales for the must-win Test at Brisbane next week against the Springboks. Folau was a star, as a youngster for Queensland in several State of Origin matches. There will be some interest, therefore, in how he copes in a State of Nations rugby Test.
Folau has the chance to make a terrific career for himself as a Waratah and a Wallaby. Unlike the other notable league players who have came into rugby since the game went professional, he is young and has his best playing years ahead of him.
He has all the attributes to make his mark on rugby here. This will depend, though, to a great extent to whether he sees rugby as a place where he can fulfill his sporting talents into a great career. Or whether he sees rugby as a convenient market that he can exploit as a mercenary.
The hope for Australian rugby and for Folau as a rugby player destined for greatness is that rugby, and playing for the Waratahs and the Wallabies for many years past 2015, is what his ambitions are all about.