NRL convert Israel Folau appears set to retire from Greater

[justanotherleaguefan]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/spo...-1226508316174


Quote:
NRL convert Israel Folau appears set to retire from Greater Western Sydney

Mark Robinson
Herald Sun
November 01, 2012 12:52PM


The multi-million signing is seemingly headed back to rugby league, which would end the two-year, four million dollar experiment as the high-profile code-jumper.

Folau sensationally joined Greater Western Sydney in 2011 after a successful career in league.

The Herald Sun has been trying to confirm the story for the past ninety minutes.

At 12:30pm, club chairman Tony Shepherd was not aware of any Folau news.

More recently, when contacted again Shepherd refused to confirm or deny whether Folau had quit the club.

Chief executive Dave Matthews did not return calls, neither did media manager Nick Johnston.

He signed a four-year deal as a player and ambassador for the expansion team, but failed to have any real impact on the field while playing 13 games .

The news will not be a shock to league followers in Sydney.

In July, leading commentator Matthew Johns claimed Folau, who has two years to run on his GWS contract, would quit in September.

"Israel Folau will be out of his GWS contract by September," Johns said.

''They're negotiating a release right now, and next year he will be playing in the NRL in Sydney."

Folau quickly dismissed the rumor.

"I'm definitely going to be at the Giants, that's for sure," he said.

"It's just rumours, whoever's spreading that (about returning to league), it's definitely not true.

"I'm just worried about my job here at the Giants and trying to move forward.

"I'm signed with the Giants for the next two years and that's all I'm worried about."

Israel Folau's AFL career - GWS Giants 2012
Games: 13
Goals: 2

Israel Folau's NRL career - Melbourne Storm and Brisbane Broncos - 2007-2010
Games: 90
Tries: 73




All that money down the drain

[Xman]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/spo...-1226508316174


Quote:
NRL convert Israel Folau appears set to retire from Greater Western Sydney

Mark Robinson
Herald Sun
November 01, 2012 12:52PM


The multi-million signing is seemingly headed back to rugby league, which would end the two-year, four million dollar experiment as the high-profile code-jumper.

Folau sensationally joined Greater Western Sydney in 2011 after a successful career in league.

The Herald Sun has been trying to confirm the story for the past ninety minutes.

At 12:30pm, club chairman Tony Shepherd was not aware of any Folau news.

More recently, when contacted again Shepherd refused to confirm or deny whether Folau had quit the club.

Chief executive Dave Matthews did not return calls, neither did media manager Nick Johnston.

He signed a four-year deal as a player and ambassador for the expansion team, but failed to have any real impact on the field while playing 13 games .

The news will not be a shock to league followers in Sydney.

In July, leading commentator Matthew Johns claimed Folau, who has two years to run on his GWS contract, would quit in September.

"Israel Folau will be out of his GWS contract by September," Johns said.

''They're negotiating a release right now, and next year he will be playing in the NRL in Sydney."

Folau quickly dismissed the rumor.

"I'm definitely going to be at the Giants, that's for sure," he said.

"It's just rumours, whoever's spreading that (about returning to league), it's definitely not true.

"I'm just worried about my job here at the Giants and trying to move forward.

"I'm signed with the Giants for the next two years and that's all I'm worried about."

Israel Folau's AFL career - GWS Giants 2012
Games: 13
Goals: 2

Israel Folau's NRL career - Melbourne Storm and Brisbane Broncos - 2007-2010
Games: 90
Tries: 73




All that money down the drain

hours and hours of media coverage well and truly paid for his contract.

In the end its the right decision. He would have taken at least another 4-5 years to get anywhere near up to scratch. The giants can do better than this.

[Drac]

Once again GWS and AFL to be on the front page of every paper in Sydney and QLD

[justanotherleaguefan]

Yeah but everyone is laughing

[cos789]

In the end its the right decision. He would have taken at least another 4-5 years to get anywhere near up to scratch. The giants can do better than this.

Apart from Folau doing a Mike Pyke that was probably the very best outcome.
GWS received attention that simply money cannot buy(on top of the bit they did buy).
Now GWS can concetrate on improving their list and their performances.
I truly hoped he enjoyed his experience.

.

.

[Drac]

Now to hit Hungry Jacks and KFC to get back into League playing shape.

[justanotherleaguefan]

Wow Ten News calling the afl arrogant. Never thought I'd hear that.

[eelofwest]

Wow Ten News calling the afl arrogant. Never thought I'd hear that.

Scott of Adelaide Posted at 3:18 PM Today

Yep great advertisement for AFL, pay a truck load of cash to show he cant play the game and helping to make the AFL a laughing stock at the same time, blowing money like that. I've always believed the AFL's arrogance will be its downfall. Seeing as the AFL is the only sporting code in the country to lose TV viewers, lower game attendances and less people playing, but they still believe their own hype

Justa it is now obvious that this has backfired on the AFL, they are now the laughing stock of Sydney and Western Sydney in particular.

[Xman]

Wow Ten News calling the afl arrogant. Never thought I'd hear that.

Scott of Adelaide Posted at 3:18 PM Today

Yep great advertisement for AFL, pay a truck load of cash to show he cant play the game and helping to make the AFL a laughing stock at the same time, blowing money like that. I've always believed the AFL's arrogance will be its downfall. Seeing as the AFL is the only sporting code in the country to lose TV viewers, lower game attendances and less people playing, but they still believe their own hype

Justa it is now obvious that this has backfired on the AFL, they are now the laughing stock of Sydney and Western Sydney in particular.

yeah, repeated news stories about the AFL and the giants, worth way more than Falou's paultry salary, was a waste of money....

As for Scott's comments, how are record ratings in any way losing viewers? There are more people playing, not less. Lower attendance was due to more games in expansion states and live TV against the gate.

Try again Scott.

[justanotherleaguefan]

Some comments from Big Footy

Being a Victorian and having lived and worked in Sydney for the last 6 years, i knew this Israel Folau venture was always going to fail.

They signed up a Rugby league Player who played for Melbourne and Brisbane and represented QLD in Origin. What relevance did he have to Western Sydneysiders....NONE. NO ONE CARED.
If they were serious they would have got Jarred Hayne, but the AFL's typical arrogance thought they could group all League players together and it wouldnt matter who they signed.

Obviously compounded by the fact he could never pick up the game. But lets be honest here, most sydneysiders wouldnt have a clue how he had played this year. You could have told them he is awesome and they wouldnt have cared.

The sad fact is, the AFL has wasted money on this Western Sydney venture, and they will continue to waste money. In 5 years when they win a premiership they will still be getting 10k or less to games and the AFL will still pump 20m per year into the team while clubs like Nth Melb, Western Bulldogs and Melbourne fend mainly for themselves.

And if anyone sitting behind their desks in Melbourne, Perth or Adelaide really believe its making an impact in Western Sydney then they are a dribbler. The papers hype it up and the junior participation statistics are based on ONE oz kick clinic at a school, not how many junior club players there are.

I love this game, and i just hate to see the AFL waste money like this at the expense of the traditional base of clubs and states that love the game.

Good Bye Izzy, may this be the last of the wasted expenditure on useless League players.



This whole saga has been an embarrassment to the AFL and cheapened the game. Disgraceful and I'm not surprised this happen.

The embarrassing Izzy experiment failed and the AFL should wrap this GWS farce.

[Xman]

Pfft.

Is that the nRL formula for expansion? Fold a team after 1 year?

[justanotherleaguefan]

Keith Shady looked shattered at the press conference. he didn't see this coming

usually the AFL are pretty professional and can spin anything into a good story by managing the media

Folau has pantsed them today and Demetriou looks like a Galah

[Xman]

Keith Shady looked shattered at the press conference. he didn't see this coming

usually the AFL are pretty professional and can spin anything into a good story by managing the media

Folau has pantsed them today and Demetriou looks like a Galah

Seriously, try a post of your own. This was posted word for word on LU hours ago

Sheedy loves a "project", always has. He will see it as a failure on his part. But in all honesty, of course he looked disappointed. Anything else would have looked out of place and suggested they didn't believe in their decision to recruit him.

[Xman]

TWO goals for $2 million. It is tempting to view the Israel Folau experiment as an abject failure through the prism of footy performance.


RECOMMENDED COVERAGE
Why Sheedy believed in Izzy
Izzy escape plan hatched at Hillsong
Folau set to sign with Parramatta


But in terms of his effectiveness as a public relations driver, Folau has been nothing short of a spectacular success.

If you were to conduct a vox pop in the streets of Sydney, asking people to name a GWS player, it's a fair bet the vast majority would baulk after identifying Folau.

And that says plenty about his worth to the code.

Rothfield: Folau return a triumph for NRL

The AFL's expensive bid to launch a team in western Sydney with a predominantly inexperienced list was always going to be a hard sell, particularly in the formative years.

An identifiable face and an audacious transformation project was crucial in engaging the public and generating awareness in an already crowded sporting market.

So, while Folau might never have cracked GWS's best 22, he more than pulled his weight off the field.

Analysis provided by Media Monitors has revealed that his reported $1 million-per-season wage was offset by the publicity he generated, particularly in that crucial window around the time of the club's launch earlier this year.

I personally think it's a shame he didn't play at least another year in the AFL.

As we have seen with fellow code-jumpers Karmichael Hunt and Mike Pyke, it takes two years of heavy slog to learn a new sport and it is not until season three that benefits are reaped.

Many wrote off the recruitment of Folau as nothing more than a marketing gimmick, but I'm not convinced that was the case.

There was genuine intent and investment from the AFL, GWS and the Giants' coaching staff to transform Folau into a footy player. In time, he might have got there. But now we'll never know.

It's clear, though, that Folau's best game for the Giants was his last one. For the first and only time, he looked in his element against the Kangaroos, kicking a goal and imposing himself upon the opposition.

But now he is headed back to his natural habitat where, at the age of 23, Test matches, State of Origin and perhaps grand finals await.

From bit-part player in AFL to superstar in league - I don't think anyone would begrudge him this move.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/more-ne ... 6508678033

[Raiderdave]

Once again GWS and AFL to be on the front page of every paper in Sydney and QLD

yep
and looking like a pack of knobs .... good one d head

VFL score another behind ..... 1 point