Israel Folau is a strong chance to go to Super Rugby's Waratahs. Source: Getty Images
BY the time next year's NRL season kicks off, rugby convert Israel Folau will have the opportunity to showcase his talents in Brisbane, Sydney and Canberra for the Waratahs and further embarrass league's bumbling officials in their key cities.
Folau will be unveiled today as the Waratahs' 30th and final recruit for the 2013 Super Rugby season and is expected to hit back at the NRL and Parramatta Eels who have portrayed him as greedy and disloyal since he pulled out of negotiations last week.
The struggling Super Rugby outfit will sign Folau on a deal worth roughly $250,000 for a six-month stint. Eels coach Ricky Stuart remains relieved his club hadn't entered into an agreement with Folau.
"We are genuinely better off without him. At least we found out about this guy," Stuart said. "We have heaps of outside backs. He and his manager Isaac Moses used us up."
But Folau is furious that he has been cast as the villain when the NRL had been negotiating with him since the grand final and continually changed their offer.
Folau has repeatedly said he didn't talk to any clubs until after he pulled the pin on his rich AFL deal.
Waratahs coach Michael Cheika swooped when Folau got fed up with the uncertainty of the league deal, and now the former Kangaroos international will play a third football code in four years after quitting AFL's GWS Giants last month.
Waratahs players are bemused after being told the club had no extra money during their negotiations, while rival clubs are wondering how NSW can afford Folau. Melbourne Rebels coach Damien Hill questioned the mathematics surrounding Folau's signing given the season starts in just 10 weeks.
"Israel is a rare talent and would be a great asset for rugby," Hill said. "But I can't see how any Super Rugby clubs, including the Rebels, could afford him with the late timing and the salary caps that have been enforced."
The Daily Telegraph understands that Folau's deal is short-term, possibly six months, and worth about $250,000. It allows both parties to reassess after the season and if Folau is a raging success and wants to continue, then the Waratahs could produce an upgraded offer given many of their stars are off contract in 2014, while the ARU would be inclined to pay a top-up deal.
Folau will be free to pursue rich deals in Japan or Europe, or seek out offers from other NRL clubs. Heck, he could even take up boxing.
It's possible the Waratahs have also used a "foreign marquee" loophole to secure Folau, given import Sarel Pretorius was offloaded after last season. The marquee allowance means clubs only have to declare a star recruit for $150,000 under the salary cap even if they pay him much more.
Given there is no foreign player at the Waratahs and the ARU were not interested in paying Folau a top-up, they may have been allowed to cap him under that guise.
Folau joins the Waratahs' ever-expanding "Team Tonga", which includes Wycliff Palu, Tatafu Polota-Nau and brothers Sitaleki and Lopeti Timani.
He is expected to begin training with his new teammates immediately and will be available in their February trials against Melbourne in Hobart, and then the Crusaders on Valentine's Day in Sydney.
NSW's first game is against Queensland - where Folau became a household league name for the Maroons in State of Origin - before games against the Rebels in Sydney and Brumbies in Canberra.
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