Israel Folau says he's excited by prospect of playing outside centre for Waratahs next season

HE may be playing fullback for the Wallabies but Israel Folau says he's excited about the prospect of playing at centre for the Waratahs.

MICHAEL Cheika may have laughed off suggestions that heÂ’s planning to move Israel Folau to outside centre for the Waratahs next season, but he certainly didnÂ’t deny them.

News Limited on Monday reported that the Waratahs coach would make the gamble in order to accommodate new recruit Kurtley Beale at fullback.

"You’ll have to talk to (News Limited journalist) Jamie Pandaram about those because his coaching career has obviously got him into this selection game," Cheika said.

"My players complain that I pick the team on a Thursday or Friday before the game, so I can’t imagine I’m going to be picking any teams in September for February or March.
"Nice headlines though."

Folau, who didn’t seem surprised by the reports, says he’s excited about the possible switch.

"I’m very excited and open-minded about trying my hand at outside centre," he said.

"I think with the squad we have next year it’s going to be exciting and we’ve got a lot of depth in the backline, but certainly over the preseason I’m looking forward to having a crack and see how I go."

Wherever Folau ends up playing for the Waratahs, Cheika predicts he’ll have another successful season.

"The rise has been meteoric, really," Cheika said of Folau’s first year in the game.

"I don’t think we’ve used him enough in the air, but we’re still learning about him and he’s learning how to fit in with our environment.

"I think next year he’s going to have a real standout season.

"We’ll again evolve his role next year based on the guys we’ll have around him, playing in a different configuration of players, so we’ll just see how he goes in the preseason."