Folau has joined AFL

[beave]

Couldn't be any worse than sexually assaulting 17 yo girls, beating up girl friends and members of the public, gang rapes and defecating in hotel corridors.

Oh wait, don't forget grown men fingering other grown men.

or meeting up with other men in the MCG toilets, or running with druggy biker gangs in Perth........... or the 3 strikes policy where you can get busted taking any substance and still play. And then get busted again........... and still play on....................

Why don't you and the rest of your Bigfaggy girlfriends f**k off out of here and go hang out with Gary Ablett senior, I heard he likes the little girls like you that "take" the good gear..............

 

[hineyrulz]

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, Victorian ALERT.

I thought that old imbecile Sheedy was supposed to be talking up the game, but he pissed off so many people with his inane comments, that they told him to pull his head in, nothing is surer.

This will be news for a week, then AFL will slink back to the pages just before the trots, where it belongs.

ROLL UP, ROLL UP.........:lol:

Hey nothing wrong with the trots :lol:

 

[woodley_11]

I just can't see the Western Sydney team succeeding. Surely all the people who legitimately follow AFL in Sydney are already passionate Swans fans. The local derby between Sydney teams should draw a decent crowd from Swans fans but if any Melbourne team came to verse Western Sydney at Blacktown it would be deserted. It's not as if people from Western Sydney have never heard about the game and could be persuaded to follow it, they know it and prefer rugby league. I would compare it to the NRL pushing for a second team in Melbourne, the Storm are succeeding but any other team would die. That is assuming of course that Folau can even play the game.

Such a ridiculous move by the AFL when their game has strong support in Tasmania and Northern Territory despite having no local teams. NSW and Queensland will always be rugby league territory.

 

[Titanic]

A mouthful of folauafl.

 

[Dragon]

Guess what, league will survive. I know, its shocking but it will. Cant kill the greatest game of all with a few cheap shots. Rugby tried and failed miserably, and so too will AFL

 

[El Diablo]

Guess what, league will survive. I know, its shocking but it will. Cant kill the greatest game of all with a few cheap shots. Rugby tried and failed miserably, and so too will AFL

indeed

the people of Western Sydney follow the likes of locals like Jarryd Hayne, not Folau from Queensland

why they never offered Hayne millions has got me stuffed

has a massive boot on him. sh*ts on Folau

now that would have been a coup

 

[Vic Mackey]

Lol folau will give them as much input into the market in western Sydney as signing me would, as said he play for the broncos and qld. Who's their next signing, Wally Lewis?

 

[Jason Maher]

Good, could never understand the damn logic going after yet another centre, especially one that plays on the same side as Hodges! Go hard for Cooper Cronk, we need a halfback!

And Peter Wallace is a prop I take it...?

Hunt, Lockyer under the marquee system. That is well over a million bucks we can spend elsewhere. Every club has 2 players they just should not lose. Put it this way it makes me sick seeing Petro playing for Penrith when he could have easily got the cash at Brisbane with a better system!

Brisbane are about the only club who could afford to pay big money outside the current cap, due to their having a capital city market to themselves. There is no way the NRL will introduce a system that hands the advantage so obviously to the Broncos. We've been through that 15 years ago, and no-one wants to go back there.

As for Folau, so much for going to the Broncos being about "homesickness"... :lol: Stuff him, and stuff the AFL. I used to follow it quite closely, but their constant arrogance and determination to take down my first sporting love has turned me off. Seriously, the Swans and Lions got a fair bit of support in the past out of being a kind of second team for many League supporters in Queensland and NSW. By being so open about trying to take down League, they have evaporated this support and shot themselves in the foot. The only way they will make 2 teams in both Queensland and NSW work is by emigrating a sh*tload of Victorians north. Even the AFL doesn't have those sort of resources, and I doubt the Victorian government would approve anyway. ;-)

 

[Tap Twist Snap]

It's not much of a loss to anyone other than the Broncos and chances are he was never going to stay with them anyway.

I can't see him doing much for AFL really it's not like he is someone Kids in Sydney care about anyway. If it was Hayne or Benji they might get a few people watching but other than get a few Broncos or Storm fans watching an odd game of AFL it offers nothing to them.

It all really makes no sense why they would offer such massive money for someone no one will care about in 12 months time. I just hope QLD don't pick him for origin would much rather see Lote back playing for the Mighty Maroons.

 

[Vic Mackey]

Cool I now the names of 5 afl players, Barry hall, ben cousins, Adam goodes, hunt and folau, I seriously wouldn't know any other player if my life depended on it, and guess what afl.....it's going to staythat way!!

 

[Mr. Fahrenheit]

Only read first half of the thread... some ideas that can be implemented after the next TV deal (if it goes well, never know...) when the NRL has more money to provide to clubs as grants. ;

Sponsorship dollars not included in cap - doesn't matter if its 3rd party or not... if Clubs have a good image and can gain more through sponsors, why punish them? - this would provide a better incentive for proactive PR.

Agree with the 2 marquee player idea even though it was floated by the biggest idiot on these boards - 2 players in roster that are not included in the cap (allows for the Haynes, Thurstons etc. to remain in the game.)

Another idea is to be aggressive in retaliation regarding our expansion into AFL heartland. I'm suggesting to exclude any high-profile players from other codes from the cap. This is obviously designed for clubs like the Warriors (RU) or the Storm/WA etc. (AFL) to get similar headlines in the short term as to what the cutie thing will do.

For this idea to work, non NSW/QLD clubs (incl future clubs) should get atleast an extra 25% on their grants, they can choose to spend this in any way.

I realise that most people would be of the opinion that most other code's players won't be able to cut it in the NRL. That's probably true, but this is a primarily a marketing ploy.

Through the RL marquee player quota and the exclusion of sponsorship $, high profile RL stars have every opportunity to earn in RL as long as clubs can afford it. This cross-code poaching idea is just a way to increase exposure for some clubs whilst hurting a rival code.

 

[duck_dodgers]

best AFL signing since this bloke ...

 

[kay]

If this is true, I'm not sure if its entirely relevant, but the Broncos will surely have developed a code hopping trend. Hunt to AFL, Barnes, Thorn, Tuqiri (as well as his cousin Elia, although not sure if he crossed directly from Broncos) and Sailor to Rugby. QLD Reds' winger, Davies also came from the Broncos. And a bit out of my era, heard something about Willie Carne defecting to union.

 

[El Diablo]

$4.2 million according to the SMH

and he has never played the game :lol:

 

[typicalfan]

What will Folau and Hunt have as far as earning capacity after their contracts expire? After their profile fades away completely they will lose their bargaining power. They won't be remembered or admired as great sportmen like a Mal Meninga or Wally Lewis.

Trading money for fame.

 

[Greenbits]

I really don't get the AFLs angle on this.

Do they think this will get more league fans to watch AFL? If I'm going to watch AFL, I want to watch good AFL players play AFL, not good league players play AFL.

Do they think its going to weaken league? Union tried this and failed. While Falou is a good player, good wingers/centres, with the exception of Inglis, are a dime a dozen when it comes to replacing them. He won't be anymore missed then Gasnier, Sailor or Tuquiri were. They should have targetted a Thurston or a Hayne.

Do they think it will get more Polynesian kids to play AFL? Can't see it happening, the rugby codes are too intrenched in islander tradition.

Do they think he has some mystical link in Western Sydney which will bring in the masses? The guy left Minto for Brisbane when he was like 10. He plays for Brisbane and QLD FFS.

All it does is give them some cheap publicity, a little curiosity, make them look like a bunch of dicks and piss off their other high profile players.

After one or two games of AFL, when every one realises he is ordinary, Izzy will slide off into the obscurity of the VFL until he re-emerges three years later looking for and NRL/Super 15 contract.

They should be targetting fans like me who watch league/union and the occasional game of AFL. Instead of sparking my interest, all this has done is ensure that I won't be giving them my support.

 

[Nightward]

How shocking. Another Bronco and Queenslander swiped from the NRL because the rules couldn't be bent or broken :roll:Yet when other codes took a run at Johns and Gasnier, the NRL had to get involved to keep the "stars" in the game.

With that said, not a horrendous loss. Whilst he is a high-profile player, he has actually produced very little. Denan Kemp at his best prior to going to the Warriors was providing better service, and we've got him back now along with a ridiculous amount of backs coming through.

And I tell you what, the Broncos hire Ricky Stuart (as rumours increasingly indicate they will) or net Slater/Inglis/Smith/Cronk, they can have my season membership back, too. Bugger that.

 

[Greenbits]

How shocking. Another Bronco and Queenslander swiped from the NRL because the rules couldn't be bent or broken :roll:Yet when other codes took a run at Johns and Gasnier, the NRL had to get involved to keep the "stars" in the game.

With that said, not a horrendous loss. Whilst he is a high-profile player, he has actually produced very little. Denan Kemp at his best prior to going to the Warriors was providing better service, and we've got him back now along with a ridiculous amount of backs coming through.

And I tell you what, the Broncos hire Ricky Stuart (as rumours increasingly indicate they will) or net Slater/Inglis/Smith/Cronk, they can have my season membership back, too. Bugger that.

Nightward. Izzy is hardly Andrew Johns. The NRL helped to set up 3rd party deals with Izzy as they did with Gasnier. Didn't Gasnier leace when said deals fell over?

 

[MsStorm]

Send him on his way now.

I agree....NOW

 

[Nightward]

Nightward. Izzy is hardly Andrew Johns. The NRL helped to set up 3rd party deals with Izzy as they did with Gasnier. Didn't Gasnier leace when said deals fell over?

No. Gasnier bailed when he learned Wayne Bennet was coming. There was an escape clause in his contract that gave him some time to negotiate with other potential employers each year, which he did and which is why he ran to French Union.

He probably couldn't handle the fact that Bennet's first move(s) would be stripping him of the captaincy and putting him back in the centres.

The NRL organised special deals for him with Channel 9, but he couldn't be bothered to meet his contractual obligations. Not only that, but he up and left immediately before the World Cup, which the NRL/ARL had made him the face of in an attempt to placate him.

I know that Folau is not a loss on the level of Thurston or Lockyer or whomever. I do believe his is overhyped and has done little to justify the contract he has with the Broncos. But even so, he does have a great amount of talent (you don't represent your State and country so young otherwise) and seeing the NRL/ARL shrug their shoulders and say "Eh, well, what can you do..." when top-flight Maroons are targeted but fly into a Chicken Little-esque fury when their own are in the sights of rival sports...

The NRL's assistance with Folau still had to operate under the usual sponsorship arrangements with the salary cap. Gasnier became the driving force for the World Cup, in a move that drastically improved his brand recognition. Johns was clearly offered a spot with Channel 9 as a sweetener after he retired should he stay with League.