Champion Wallaby fullback Israel Folau looks bored because he’s being ignored.
He’s not injured, but he’s just a shadow of the devastating and dynamic Folau of three years ago.
The 27-year-old has always been a freakish try-scorer and attacking unit, by far the best rugby league convert, even though it was via the AFL.
It’s timely to turn the clock back to when the unknown 17-year-old Israel Folau took the rugby league world literally by storm.
He started the 2007 season on the wing as the youngest to represent the Melbourne Storm, scoring a debut match-winning try against the Wests-Tigers for an 18-16 win.
The perfect start, and it only got better.
Folau played every game that season, the only Storm player to do so, scoring 21 tries from 25 games to share the NRL try-scoring honours with the experienced Cowboy Matt Bowen.
And in the process Folau not only broke the previous debut season record of 19 tries set by Billy Slater in 2003, but when Justin Hodges was injured Folau made his Test debut at 18 years and 194 days, breaking Brad Fittler’s youngest Kangaroo record of 18 years and 264 days.
Folau scored two tries on Test debut in the Kangaroo’s record 58-0 hammering of the Kiwis. Needless to say Israel Folau won the Dally M Rookie of the Year award.
He was also awarded the Australian Young Performer of the Year, and the International Newcomer of the Year award – almost a full house.
In 2008, Folau moved into the centres, scored 15 tries from 25 games, and won the Dally M Centre of the year.
In his four years of rugby league – two at the Storm, and two with the Broncos – plus State of Origin for Queensland and Test matches, Folau had no trouble finding the try line.
He scored 70 tries from 87 NRL games, five tries from as many Origin appearances, and six tries for the Kangaroos in eight games.
All up in four rugby league seasons from 2007 to 2010 he scored 84 tries from 104 games – simply brilliant.
And he started off in the same rich vein when he switched to rugby in 2013 with the Waratahs and played his first Test the same year, scoring a double on debut against the British and Irish Lions.
He finished the year with 10 Test tries to equal Lote Tuqiri’s Test debut year record.
The stellar year was 2014 with the Waratahs, winning their first Super Rugby title in 19 years of trying.
This was the year Michael Cheika clicked as a representative coach, Folau and Kurtley Beale clicked, and Bernard Foley’s trusty boot did the rest.
The Waratahs scored the most points (481), had the least points score against them (272), with the highest differential of plus-209.
Folau scored the most tries in the tournament with 12, sharing the honour with the Crusaders Nemani Nadolo, while Beale scored eight.
Foley was the icing on the cake topping the points scorers with 252.
Today, Folau holds the Waratahs try-scoring record with 36 from 60 games, ahead of Tuqiri’s 29 from 89, Lachie Turner’s 25 from 71, and Matt Burke’s 24 from 78.
It’s Folau and daylight.
He scored 17 tries in his first two Wallaby seasons, but only three in total from last year, and this year.
And that’s proving very costly to the Wallabies, and it’s not Folau’s fault.
It’s either Michael Cheika has tactically moved away from Folau as a striker, or the current backline isn’t good enough to include Folau – there’s no Kurtley Beale on show.
Samu Kerevi looms as a likely prospect if he was inside centre, with Folau at 13. But it appears Cheika intends to retain Folau as the custodian.
Whatever the reason, Israel Folau must be kept busy if the Wallabies are to be regular winners, or Folau will go elsewhere.
And that would be a rugby tragedy.
The Broncos are circling, and Folau’s family live in Brisbane.
One thing for sure, if the Broncos eventually win out, they won’t make the same monumental mistake of starving the champion of the ball.
Israel Folau’s future is entirely up to the Wallabies.
guy
Guest
Folau has been a nonperformer, too many missed passes, it's time we stopped living in the past and make some real change to make Aust competitive again, wake up Cheika
wallaby
Guest
brilliance lol when was the last time he played well at test level?
piru
Roar Rookie
I suspect they might be leaving the boot / stud selection to the players, this always seems to be a problem for Wallaby teams in SA. Kurtley Beale in particular always seems to be skating around on his arse over there.
piru
Roar Rookie
We do have the best player in every position, that's not what irks us. It's the talking up of a flawed player that Aussie rugby media is so prone to that makes you want to immediately refute it. They did the same thing with Cooper, Giteau, Tuqiri and so on going right back
piru
Roar Rookie
Folau at his best is not good enough to dislodge any of the top 5 NZ outside backs anyway
Logan
Roar Rookie
Time for an article on how awesome Kurtley Beale was playing before that last injury and how much the Wallabies need him to score trys. Even the QLDers will have to agree.
coldturkey
Roar Rookie
Dude, do you have any understanding of international player rules? Once Folau has played for the Wallabies he is not eligible for any other team. Remember the Hayne Plane? Once he played sevens for Fiji he became ineligible for any other country in either sevens or fifteens. No matter how woeful he is in a Wallaby jersey he's not going to trade the soft training he has here for the hardcore requirements they have in NZ. He's shown no inclination to improve his skill set with the Waratahs or Wallabies so why would he want to go to NZ where he will be forced to do that. In regards to the Kiwi girlfriend, a girlfriend is just that, not a wife. Aaron Smith goes through them like candy.
Graham Smith
Roar Rookie
Folau's done nothing since leaving the Storm. Yes he's a great athlete blahblahblah but it ends there. Just another player who promised so much at the beginning of his career and has failed to fulfil anything except an exceptionally large bank account. Good luck to him, I have no problem with him at all but he's had more than enough opportunities to shine and frankly apart from sporadic flashes he's a journeyman rugby union player. Can't think of too many other top international union sides where he'd get a start based on what he's shown he's capable of in the game of union.
Marto
Guest
Yeah I remember them .. What about them ?? ..I do Remember Michael Brial belting the stuffing out of Bunce in 1996 at Lang Park .. Hilarious stuff , Brial was using Frank as a speedball..
Doubles
Guest
As I said, he wasn't any good at origin, 3 of those origins were super league origins when the game was split in two, so they don't count as not all the best players were available. I don't care if he was Broncos player of the year 3 times.. I just said he was poor at ORIGIN. .Even when Wayne Bennett was coach of QLD he didn't pick him.. He was great at everything else but Origin he was average. .Move on..
aussikiwi
Guest
Haha this made be think of David Attenborough (sp?) speaking in hushed and reverent tones about the rare beast known as Israel Folau.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Nah. He wouldn't be
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
And what about Foley's poor games? Do they just not count?
Noodles
Guest
remarkable piece david. it seems folau is the sort of footy genius who needs to be coddled. why is that? some of us think he is simply not seeing the spaces. its not as though he's lacking in inside backs who see him or outside backs who dont settle play. give us a break and get off your love of headline payers.
Tony H
Roar Pro
Best comment I've read in ages.
Simoc
Guest
Agreed. Folau would be first picked in any All Black squad while no other Wallaby back, except Genia, would get a look in. Union is on a downer in Australia and South Africa and Folau may enjoy himself more in the league set up. It is amusing reading the clueless comments though. Obviously not many footballers in this lot.
Squirrel
Guest
Cooper since that super title had a disastrous 2011 Rwcup. A laughing stock .
Upfromdown
Guest
I don't think the team are using him well. They have been misfiring, not helped by injuries at 12 this year. Teams are also kicking him to him less (stats may prove me wrong) and that may also be because there is DHP who is also strong in the air but not the threat in counter attack. Saying that, he has been down in form. His position in contact is poor, his ball carrying is not as good as it has been, he does not hit the line like he used to. So saying all that it as much up to him as it is the team. I hope he is saying to Cheika, Larkham & Byrne that he wants to be used.
Kirky
Roar Rookie
Cadfael: Folau is a good player we all know that and with his size and the upright running position with a high lift in his legs as a method of getting over the ground, he's a very hard dude to put down, so he needs to be in an attacking possie' somewhere to get that 'hard to stop run on'. He's a marked man don't worry about that and more often than he'd like he gets the priviledge of having the ball kicked to him with three or more opposition sitting right on top of him. Wasted at Fullback but that's cool.
John
Guest
Another award diminished. Anything on ARU Rookie of the Year, John Eales Medal, John Eales Medal (only player in history to win consecutive awards), Super Rugby Champion, Wallabies highest single-season try scorer, Tahs highest try scorer ever, Rugby Championships winner?