News Limited is reporting that the Sydney Roosters are considering handing Israel Folau a 2 year deal for the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
Folau’s pathway back to the NRL was halted last season by then ARL Chairman Peter Beattie. Folau was then blocked from playing for Tonga in last years international games.
Folau eventually found a lifeline with the Catalans Dragons in Super League, however it was after a lot of handwringing by Super League officials.
Now that Folau is back and playing Rugby League it will be interesting to see if the Australian Rugby League and the NRL stand in his way once again, and on what ground they choose to stop Folau from playing the game in Australia.
Folau has already shown in Super League he is still a high quality player. No doubt it won’t just be the Sydney Roosters who are looking at offering him a contract for next season.
The deal he currently has right now means that if he makes any controversial comments he can be sacked by the Catalans Dragons and will not be entitled to any sort of payout. You would think that should he join an NRL club they would look to have a similar clause in his contract.
The problem you run into however is that if a few clubs bid for Folau it just takes one of those teams to offer him a deal that doesn’t have a clause like that in place.
Of course, none of this matters if the NRL decides they don’t want Folau to be part of the competition. They will no doubt sight commercial reasons for trying to block Folau’s return. It will be interesting to see if Folau and his management take legal action if it comes to that.
Even after trying to make sure Folau didn’t bring his brand of controversy to the NRL, it seems it will be forced on the game anyway…
