Even here, on the other side of the planet, in the middle of Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium, when he’s not even present, Israel Folau is still the story.
Even here, on the other side of the planet, in the middle of Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium, when he’s not even present, when he’s back in Perpignan in a swimming pool working on his bruised and battered body, Israel Folau is still the story.
Folau celebrates his try after a lightning-fast start on debut for Catalans.Catalans Dragons coach Steve McNamara was asked after a rigorous opposed session against the Sydney Roosters if Folau - who has signed with the Super League team for one season - should be allowed back into the NRL. “Yeah,” McNamara said after a long pause. “Am I wrong, but he’s not currently banned from anywhere is he? There was talk from the chairman [Peter Beattie, the former ARLC chairman] who said they wouldn’t accept him, but nobody has ever applied. He should be given an opportunity and we’ve given that opportunity."We completely stand by the decision, as a club, and as an individual I stand by that as well. But having spoken to him, understanding him more, I think everyone understands the headline, not the person. Getting him on the field is the plan and we will learn more about the person as we move on.” Folau was a late withdrawal from the session against the two-time defending NRL premiers, who have been in Barcelona preparing for their World Club Challenge match against St Helens on Sunday, Sydney time. They are now in Manchester ahead of the game at Totally Wicked Stadium. McNamara, a former assistant coach to Trent Robinson at the Roosters, insisted Folau's absence wasn’t about dodging the media. As it turned out, there were only two Australian reporters present. Rather, Folau’s hit-out against Castleford Tigers last weekend, in which he scored a sensational leaping try from a cross-field kick with his first touch, had taken its toll on his body. “He feels like he’s been run over by a bus today," McNamara said. "He's very, very sore having not had any sort of contact after seven or eight months. We left him behind with some of our senior players before we play again in a couple of weeks.” Folau’s no-show certainly eased some simmering tension around the session. Robinson had been cautious about the appearance of Folau, having told theAngus Crichton and Daniel Tupou from the Roosters at their opposed sessions against Catalans ahead of this weekend's World Club Challenge against St Helens.McNamara, too, is no fool. He’s a decent man who thought long and hard before signing Folau to a one-year deal after the former Wallaby was sacked by Rugby Australia for his anti-gay posts on Instagram. “You can only take someone as you find them, and there’s been a lot of work done before we signed him,” McNamara said. “He spoke to the group, and he’s done everything that we’ve asked him to do and more. He has assured us it won’t be repeated again and that’s good enough for me.” As it turned out, Folau wasn’t really needed at the Olympic Stadium as the Roosters ramped up preparations for the match against St Helens. The session was much harder than many of the players had anticipated. Because this is their first match since the grand final win over the Raiders, and because they are unfamiliar with the opposition, Robinson wanted to replicate match conditions as closely as possible.There are changes everywhere you look for the Roosters this season.Instead of Latrell Mitchell, backrower Angus Crichton stands at left centre with backrower Sitili Tupouniua inside of him instead of injured captain Boyd Cordner. But the same levels of intensity, power and speed remains. Centre Joseph Manu looks decidedly bigger, using that go-go-gadget right hand to get the offload away to winger Brett Morris. Waerea-Hargreaves remains an animal in the middle of the park.
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