Israel Folau to walk away from rugby league to join GWS and AFL

[titansrawesome]

I think the QRL may be looking at this another way.

Diehard threw a hot chip onto the ground and a dozen seagulls started fighting over it, i turned around and bugger me dead there was about 35000 victorians watching it, and cheering!! The worst part is that now Diehard and myself are probably counted as AFL supporters.

lol

[shamus]

thats ridiculous folau is playing for qld, we dont need him, obviously your stupid if you think we need folau to win this series.

I think Titan_Machu has a right to voice his opinion whether it be right or wrong. I could not be bothered spending hours checking all the facts. But what I am saying here is that he has gone about it in a non threatening way.

You mentioned something about him ruining your thread. Well with your above comment (obviously you're stupid) it seems that you are the one about to take it to the gutter..

There has been no name calling so far and quite a lot of 'facts' from all sides (I assume most are correct)...I really do think you should count to 10 before posting coz you often jump in there and post things that people see as ammunition and cannot wait to fire back. That's when posts go downhill.

....and don't go looking for old posts of mine coz I am also guilty of silly posts. That is why I bar myself from posting after dark (once the alcohol kicks in)

[titansrawesome]

I think Titan_Machu has a right to voice his opinion whether it be right or wrong. I could not be bothered spending hours checking all the facts. But what I am saying here is that he has gone about it in a non threatening way.

You mentioned something about him ruining your thread. Well with your above comment (obviously you're stupid) it seems that you are the one about to take it to the gutter..

There has been no name calling so far and quite a lot of 'facts' from all sides (I assume most are correct)...I really do think you should count to 10 before posting coz you often jump in there and post things that people see as ammunition and cannot wait to fire back. That's when posts go downhill.

....and don't go looking for old posts of mine coz I am also guilty of silly posts. That is why I bar myself from posting after dark (once the alcohol kicks in)

im not one of those people who go back to old posts to multi quote, and he is being ridiculous with this afl crpa

[DIEHARD]

I'm not afraid of any debate, I think it's healthy for Rugby League. We should be proud of where our sport is but also be determined to improve it in all areas.

[Cowboy Titan]

I received this from GCAFL this afternoon. I wasn't aware that playing French Provincial Rugby was classed as playing at the ELITE level. I guess they believe AFL fans will believe anything they write.


VFL ROUND 9
Coburg Tigers v Gold Coast Football Club
Highgate Recreation Reserve, Craigieburn
Saturday June 12, 1:10pm

The Gold Coast Football Club has announced its side for our Round 9 VFL away match against the Coburg Tigers this Saturday, with Karmichael Hunt to make his debut!

Former rugby league international Karmichael Hunt will make his long awaited VFL debut when he lines up at full forward for GCFC against Coburg Tigers on Saturday.

Hunt played 11 rugby league test matches for Australia between 2006 and 2008 and has only just returned home following a successful stint with French provincial rugby union club Biarritz. He is now looking to become the first ever footballer to play rugby league, rugby union and AFL at elite level.

Hunt will not be the only first gamer on Saturday. Joining him are exciting 18 year-olds Josh Toy and Tom Nicholls. Both are products of the AIS/AFL Academy.

Other inclusions this week are Charlie Dixon, Rex Liddy, David Swallow, Liam Patrick and Roland Ah Chee.

GCFC Senior Coach Guy McKenna said player and coaching staff alike were excited to finally be seeing Karmichael Hunt's career get underway.

[DIEHARD]

It wasn't random timing that GWS announced the signing of Folau right smack bang in the middle of our Origin series.

Hopefully the ARL close the door on this for Game 3.

[Titan_Matchu]

I think Titan_Machu has a right to voice his opinion whether it be right or wrong. I could not be bothered spending hours checking all the facts. But what I am saying here is that he has gone about it in a non threatening way.

You mentioned something about him ruining your thread. Well with your above comment (obviously you're stupid) it seems that you are the one about to take it to the gutter..

There has been no name calling so far and quite a lot of 'facts' from all sides (I assume most are correct)...I really do think you should count to 10 before posting coz you often jump in there and post things that people see as ammunition and cannot wait to fire back. That's when posts go downhill.

....and don't go looking for old posts of mine coz I am also guilty of silly posts. That is why I bar myself from posting after dark (once the alcohol kicks in)

Thanks Shamus, it's nice see that someone is reading my posts correctly and not letting their own agenda take over the arguement.

I received this from GCAFL this afternoon. I wasn't aware that playing French Provincial Rugby was classed as playing at the ELITE level. I guess they believe AFL fans will believe anything they write.


VFL ROUND 9
Coburg Tigers v Gold Coast Football Club
Highgate Recreation Reserve, Craigieburn
Saturday June 12, 1:10pm

The Gold Coast Football Club has announced its side for our Round 9 VFL away match against the Coburg Tigers this Saturday, with Karmichael Hunt to make his debut!

Former rugby league international Karmichael Hunt will make his long awaited VFL debut when he lines up at full forward for GCFC against Coburg Tigers on Saturday.

Hunt played 11 rugby league test matches for Australia between 2006 and 2008 and has only just returned home following a successful stint with French provincial rugby union club Biarritz. He is now looking to become the first ever footballer to play rugby league, rugby union and AFL at elite level.

Hunt will not be the only first gamer on Saturday. Joining him are exciting 18 year-olds Josh Toy and Tom Nicholls. Both are products of the AIS/AFL Academy.

Other inclusions this week are Charlie Dixon, Rex Liddy, David Swallow, Liam Patrick and Roland Ah Chee.

GCFC Senior Coach Guy McKenna said player and coaching staff alike were excited to finally be seeing Karmichael Hunt's career get underway.

I am an AFL fan and I realise Biarritz is not competing in the best Rugby Union competition in the world. The statement "He is now looking to become the first ever footballer to play rugby league, rugby union and AFL at elite level" obviously means professional, the way that I can prove this is because every AFL fan knows that the VFL is not the elite competition therefore proving the person that wrote that is not referring to the best competition in the world but rather just playing the sport professionally.

It wasn't random timing that GWS announced the signing of Folau right smack bang in the middle of our Origin series.

Hopefully the ARL close the door on this for Game 3.

Well the timing of the announcement could very well be a ploy to use the S.O.O to promote AFL but the statement about the ARL banning them from representitive football is just going to make the situation worse. It is going to mean if the player has signed with an AFL club before the end of the season he is just not going to announce it until after the last representitive game of the year. Which means they will be picking players they think will be there next year but won't be, which is the whole reason for this ban anyway. Is it only jumping to AFL or is it any code? If they introduce it does it mean Lote Tuqiri can't be picked for game 3 either?

All these decisions to me seem as if they are going in the advantage of NSW quite a bit, could just be coincident but it might not be.

[titansrawesome]

Thanks Shamus, it's nice see that someone is reading my posts correctly and not letting their own agenda take over the arguement.



I am an AFL fan and I realise Biarritz is not competing in the best Rugby Union competition in the world. The statement "He is now looking to become the first ever footballer to play rugby league, rugby union and AFL at elite level" obviously means professional, the way that I can prove this is because every AFL fan knows that the VFL is not the elite competition therefore proving the person that wrote that is not referring to the best competition in the world but rather just playing the sport professionally.

i dont think you understand, the nrl is at word with the afl any promotion with the afl involving nrl is bad publicity, why should we help the afl gain more interest in our players by them watching folau play on rugby leagues showcase game.


Well the timing of the announcement could very well be a ploy to use the S.O.O to promote AFL but the statement about the ARL banning them from representitive football is just going to make the situation worse. It is going to mean if the player has signed with an AFL club before the end of the season he is just not going to announce it until after the last representitive game of the year. Which means they will be picking players they think will be there next year but won't be, which is the whole reason for this ban anyway. Is it only jumping to AFL or is it any code? If they introduce it does it mean Lote Tuqiri can't be picked for game 3 either?

All these decisions to me seem as if they are going in the advantage of NSW quite a bit, could just be coincident but it might not be.

i dont think you undrstand, the nrl is at war with afl, any publicity for the afl during nrl events is bad publicity, why should we help promote afl with people monitoring folau on rugby leagues showcase?

[Titan_Matchu]

i dont think you undrstand, the nrl is at war with afl, any publicity for the afl during nrl events is bad publicity, why should we help promote afl with people monitoring folau on rugby leagues showcase?

So this means QLD should not be allowed to play their best winger who is in form? Lots of people during the week have stated leaving Israel Folau out of the team would actually cause more publicity for the AFL than if they did pick him. Regarless of whether or not he plays his name will come up in the broadcast of S.O.O 3 the only thing would be you wouldn't hear his name on the field, he will be brought up regardless.

It is coming to the point where they are being very unfair on the QLD team, imagine if QLD didn't have back ups like Lote and Tate, I wonder if the ARL would still be talking about banning him.

[titansrawesome]

So this means QLD should not be allowed to play their best winger who is in form? Lots of people during the week have stated leaving Israel Folau out of the team would actually cause more publicity for the AFL than if they did pick him. Regarless of whether or not he plays his name will come up in the broadcast of S.O.O 3 the only thing would be you wouldn't hear his name on the field, he will be brought up regardless.

It is coming to the point where they are being very unfair on the QLD team, imagine if QLD didn't have back ups like Lote and Tate, I wonder if the ARL would still be talking about banning him.

well thats it, we do have plenty of backups and it might have been different, there is no point of banning him from game 3 now since we WILL have the series wrapped up and it will be a dead rubber again(unless there is another biff.

[DIEHARD]

At least the focus will be on Rugby League and Rugby League loyal players. Which is what should have happened for Game 2.

[Titan_Matchu]

So was Folau convincing enough in game 2 to play game 3 or because QLD have already won should they go to another converter in Tuqiri? I spose Brent Tate is an option but I can't see how anyone could possibly argue Folau's performance in game 2 was good enough to earn him selection again.

Either way the QRL have come out and stated they are going to do everything they can to pick him for game 3. Could set an exciting precident for the future of Rugby League players, although I don't agree with the ARL attempting to control players future, if they want to leave they should be allowed to with no condemnation from the higher-ups.

[Titan_Matchu]

Israel Folau free to play his last Origin game in rugby league


June 24, 2010

Israel Folau is free to play his last Origin game in rugby league after NSW boss Geoff Carr admitted he was powerless to stop it.

After the Queensland Rugby League, Maroons coach and captain reversed their decision and picked Folau for Game II, Carr could not hide his disgust saying it was not in the future interests of the game.

Folau announced after Game I he had signed a four-year deal with the AFL's Greater Western Sydney club and Carr was incensed the rival code was now having "a free kick".

Carr, who is both NSWRL general manager and the ARL's chief executive, threatened to rewrite Origin eligibility rules to make sure "defectors" did not continue to enjoy the code's high honours.

But Carr admitted he had been forced to back down.

"We got a letter (from) the QRL today, which suggested I butt out," he said. "But I would like to have that debate on Friday."

The ARL board meets in Brisbane Friday to try to sort out the impasse over the independent commission set-up.

But Carr is still seething over Folau. "He's got every right to play out his contract with the Broncos, but to give him positions in the game above that, I just think is not the right thing for the game in the future," he said.

Meanwhile, NRL board member Katie Page told the annual Women in League lunch in Sydney Wednesday that in the past 12 months the number of women on the 16 club boards had risen from two to eight.

"But it's still not where we want it to be. Our expectation is to have one woman on every club board," she told the 200 guests, including NRL boss David Gallop.

She also hoped a woman would one day be chief executive of an NRL club.

The inaugural winner of the Favourite Son award last year, voted by the 3000 women involved with league, Hazem El Masri, thinks the day will come when a woman can run an NRL side. "I don't see why not. There's a push to see a woman as our next prime minister. So if we can push for that I don't see why a woman CEO should be a problem," he said.

El Masri was on stage Wednesday to announce Parramatta's Nathan Hindmarsh was this year's Favourite Son from eight nominations, including Test captain Darren Lockyer.

"It's a huge honour, very humbling," he said. "It's not hard to be polite, shake hands and say 'G'day' to people and help someone less fortunate than yourself."

El Masri, who was subjected to the occasional racist remark from football crowds in his time with Canterbury, supported Timana Tahu in calling a halt to racial slurs.

"Sometimes you have to nominate the problem and stamp it out. It's good to do that and not hide or beat around the bush," the game's highest pointscorer said.

"As a human being we all make mistakes, it's good sometimes just to put your hand up.

"This is pretty much the Australian culture, that you make a mistake, put your hand up, recognise your mistake, apologise and just move on."

Good to see Israel is likely to play in game 3.

[titansrawesome]

it doesnt matter if he plays game 3, like i said we already has the series wrapped up before game 2 and everyone thought i was crazy, anyways i dont care about this folau saga anymore.

[DIEHARD]

I agree with the NSWRL position but it is much better to spend time thrashing out the new Commission than worrying about the traitor. Tensions are bad enough between the QRL and NSWRL and we don't need it. We need co-operation to get the new Rugby League up and running.