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Stathi Paxinos | September 28, 2007
MELBOURNE Storm chief executive Brian Waldron yesterday fended off claims that star rookie Israel Folau was homesick and wanted to return to family in Brisbane.
In what is developing into a rocky preparation for Sunday's National Rugby League grand final against Manly at Telstra Stadium a day earlier, the Storm launched a counterattack after claims that its wrestling techniques were illegal and dangerous Melbourne again was on the defensive, this time over a newspaper report that said Folau wanted to return to Brisbane to be closer to his family, a shift that could result in him linking with the Broncos.
Waldron said the 18-year-old, who is contracted to the end of next season and is considering whether to complete a two-year Mormon mission when the contract expires, had given no indication of being homesick. He said he was confident Folau would remain with the Storm but there would not be contract talks for some time.
Earlier in the day, at the NRL grand final breakfast, Storm coach Craig Bellamy revealed why Folau had been subject to a media ban for most of the year. "He's off-limits to the media because he wants to be," Bellamy said. "I had on a bit of a ban at the start of the year for six or eight weeks just to let him get his head around being an NRL player. So that was my doing, but after about a month of letting him off the ban, he decided he liked it the other way. "He's quite a shy kid and he just thought in that month he did make himself available that he told them enough about himself. He's more comfortable preparing without having to talk to the press."
The Storm yesterday trained at Kogarah Oval with its inaugural and 1999 premiership-winning coach Chris Anderson, club legend Marcus Bai and Australian coach Ricky Stuart watching. Bellamy said injured prop Ben Cross had earned the right to have every chance to prove his fitness for the final and he would have a say in whether he was fit enough to last the game. "It's just one of those things that is a time thing
but at the end of the day, he'll have a fair say in it because I'm really confident that they know if they can play or not," Bellamy said. "He's been an important part of our team for two years, so he deserves to be playing in the grand final. So we'll give him every chance. If he can get through the one game and he needs four weeks to recover, then we will play him but if (medical staff) think there is a real chance he will break down in the first 10 minutes, then we'll probably not take that chance." Cross tested his hamstring with a 20-minute running session.
Manly coach Des Hasler yesterday conceded that the Sea Eagles would not win the hearts of Sydneysiders this week. "I just think you can't change culture," Hasler said. "People hate Manly, so that's great. The saying that fans follow two sides, their own side and the side that's playing Manly, I think that's great and that won't change and why should it?"
Manly winger Chris Hicks (ankle) has declared himself a certain starter after missing the preliminary final win over North Queensland. "(I've) pretty much just (been) icing it every hour for 20 minutes and keeping the foot up for the first week," Hicks said. "I've had plenty of physio and I had the extra week off, which certainly helped me out and
I'll be 100 per cent for Sunday."
