Israel Folau under pressure from Karmichael Hunt and Dane Haylett-Petty to hold Wallabies fullback role

ISRAEL Folau admits he’s battling through a quiet season but is “stoked” to see Karmichael Hunt playing superbly and pushing him for the Wallabies No.15 jersey.

Israel Folau knows Karmichael Hunt is pushing hard for his Wallabies No.15 role.

ISRAEL Folau admits he’s battling through a quiet season but is “stoked” to see former Kangaroos teammate Karmichael Hunt playing superbly for Queensland and pushing him for the Wallabies No.15 jersey.

Folau gave a candid appraisal of his form this year for the Waratahs on Tuesday but was quick to praise the man who could potentially profit most: Hunt.

The former NRL stars were teammates at the Broncos and in Queensland and Australian league teams, and as the only triple-code athletes, Folau and Hunt even played against each other in AFL for the Giants and the Suns.

Israel Folau knows Karmichael Hunt is pushing hard for his Wallabies No.15 role.

After a scandal-rocked first season in rugby last year, Hunt’s form for Queensland this season has been outstanding and the Reds fullback was among the best on-field in the Waratahs’ win over their oldest rivals in Brisbane at the weekend.

“I have caught a few of the (Reds) highlights and it is good to see Karmichael playing well. I am stoked to see that,” Folau said.

“He is playing with a lot of confidence and he did that again on the weekend against us, which is great to see.”

Hunt’s performances for the Reds have him ahead of Folau in many key attacking stats, including line breaks, line break assists, try assists and offloads. The support play of Hunt has been ever-threatening and defending in the front line, the aggressive Queenslander averages almost six tackles a game and most are big hits.

Folau, by contrast, is way down in many of his stats; most noticeably a massive drop off in run metres.

After averaging 104 metres a game between 2013 and 2016, Folau is only tallying up 70 run metres in each clash this season.

Hunt is definitely on the Wallabies radar of Michael Cheika for the June series, and though it remains to be seen if he can unseat Folau, the NSW No.15 is pleased to have his old mate in contention for a gold jersey and challenging him.

Israel Folau is way down on some key stats this season.

“It is a healthy thing when guys are really pushing each other,” Folau said.

“For me, it is always a time when I really have to earn the jersey. I am never thinking that I am always going to get that jersey. I guess it is great to see Karmichael push, and hopefully he does get his opportunity to put the gold jersey on because I am sure he will make the most of it.”

The excellent form of Force fullback Dane Haylett-Petty can’t be overlooked either when it comes to Wallabies selection debate. Haylett-Petty is averaging the most run metres of the trio, and has the strongest kicking game by a long way.

Folau’s drop-off in run metres can perhaps be explained by him playing in the centres for much of the season but lesser numbers in other stats point to a dominant player down on confidence.

The two-time John Eales medallist admitted his confidence levels had been “hot and cold” this year.

“I hold the bar high for myself personally and I am always critiquing things,” he said.

“I am pretty hard on myself, which is a good thing. I have always been like that throughout my whole career. I am always trying to push the standards there. It’s been a challenging year but those years come around.

Karmichael Hunt has been in excellent form for the Reds this season.

“The positive is out of that is growing as a person and as a player, so it looks like a negative but it is actually a positive. Which is a great thing.”

“That’s what I am taking out of this whole situation. I am not getting caught up in it. I am just trying to push through and take it as it comes.”

Folau hasn’t got much time to navel gaze, in any case. The Tahs play the Blues at home on Saturday night and the Auckland team is chock full of attacking threat.

Not only do the Blues have weapons in the backline like Rieko Ioane, Melani Nanai, Matt Duffie and Sonny Bill Williams, but forwards like Akira Ioane and Steven Luatua are in excellent form, too.

“As a team we know how dangerous they are; certain individuals in their team can really cause some havoc out there, so we are not getting ahead of ourselves (after beating the Reds),” Folau said.

The Brumbies missed 54 tackles against the Blues on Sunday, and Waratahs defence coach Nathan Grey said making one-on-one tackles was “top of the list” of NSW priorities.

Folau dismissed the trans-Tasman hoodoo this season, which stands at 0-15 for Aussie teams.

“It’s the hype that is around us and if guys read into that, you can really get caught up. That’s the tricky thing,” Folau said.

Dane Haylett-Petty has beenone of the big success stories out west.

“You can get caught up in that stuff and it can really affect you preparation.

“Most guys don’t worry too much about that. It’s all, I guess, noise in the background. There is no point of worrying about it. We will just work hard. That was our approach last week and it was good.”

Originally published as Israel Folau under pressure from Karmichael Hunt and Dane Haylett-Petty to hold Wallabies fullback role