Israel Folau a 'complete footballer' who will worry the Lions

THE British & Irish Lions will confront the most complete footballer in their 125-year history in Israel Folau.

Jamie Pandaram

3 min read

June 21, 2013 - 12:17PM

DailyTelegraph

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THE British & Irish Lions will confront the most complete footballer in their 125-year history in Israel Folau, with his former AFL coach Kevin Sheedy declaring him the ultimate prototype for contact sports.

Folau tomorrow night achieves the remarkable feat of becoming the first man to play all three contact football codes in Australia at the highest level, with his Wallabies selection now added to his tenure in the AFL and representation of Australia in rugby league.

Sheedy believes Folau has combined the acceleration and power of league with the leap and kicking game of AFL to transform into the brilliant rugby player who will start against the Lions after just 14 Super Rugby games.

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"He would have been well-tuned into what is the necessary highway to get to being a professional rugby player by developing in the NRL and AFL," Sheedy said. "His experience in the other two codes have developed his skills to be the rugby player he is.

"His best game of AFL was his last one for GWS, in two years he would have made it as an AFL player. But he chose rugby and I respected that."

Folau admitted AFL had been the toughest of the three codes to crack, and was in a confident frame of mind before his Test debut at Suncorp Stadium, despite Lions coach Warren Gatland planning to expose his inexperience.

"I'm 100 per cent comfortable in myself and the way I go about things, I back myself especially with a game like this," Folau said. "Even though it's my first rugby season I'm very confident in being selected and being a part of this team."

Never before have the Lions encountered a player with such vast elite background.

Playing at the top level in two very different codes made his third switch easier.

"I've had a little bit of a background playing rugby when I was younger, so playing AFL was probably a very challenging one," Folau said. "With no background in the game, and transitioning straight away to play at the top level was quite challenging.

"It's been like that with my rugby as well, but I've been very confident in picking it up each week."

Wallabies playmaker James O'Connor said Folau's league and AFL skills make him an extraordinary attacking threat.

"He is pretty handy in the air, that's for sure," O'Connor said. "The big thing with Izzy is that you wouldn't know he hasn't been a part of rugby for the last five or six years, he's fitted right into the group.

"His knowledge of the game, maybe coming from rugby league, he's picked up his lines very well."

But Gatland warned Folau, who has played all but one game for the Tahs at fullback, would be a target in defence.

Robbie Deans has no doubt Folau is up to the task.

"It's not really a debut, he's played international sport before," Deans said.

Sheedy says Folau's persona has been as influential as his athletic ability to his success."He has an inner confidence that he can do things, but he doesn't over-exert his personality on people, so people warm to him," Sheedy said. "He is a brilliant athletic talent, he is also a very good listener who takes in whatever his coaches are explaining to play the game."

WALLABIES TEAM

15. Berrick Barnes (NSW Waratahs)

14. Israel Folau (NSW Waratahs)

13. Adam Ashley-Cooper (NSW Waratahs)

12. Christian Leali'ifano (Brumbies)

11. Digby Ioane (Queensland Reds)

10. James O'Connor (Melbourne Rebels)

9. Will Genia (Queensland Reds)