$6 million flop: Israel Folau experiment fails to kick goals

IT IS getting harder and harder to argue that the AFL's great $6 million gamble is paying off.

Tyson Otto

2 min read

August 21, 2012 - 12:00AM

DailyTelegraph

Israel Folau

IT IS getting harder and harder to argue that the AFL's great $6 million gamble is paying off.

Giants billboard Israel Folau is one of the highest paid players in the AFL, but statistical analysis by The Daily Telegraph can today reveal he is the second worst player in the league this season among those who have played 10 or more games.

According to Champion Data player ranking points, Folau's first season in the AFL grades him the 415th player out of the 416 to have played 10 or more games. Only 22-year-old Richmond small utility Addam Maric has a lower Champion Data ranking points average this season - a player who earns roughly 7 per cent of Folau's $6 million, four-year-deal.

Maric has also had fewer opportunities than Folau, having been subbed out of the game seven times in 2012 and spending just 46 per cent of time on the field compared with Folau's 80 per cent.

It is easy to make a case that Folau's average of six possessions and 0.1 goals per game makes him the worst player in the AFL this year.

As a marketing and promotional tool, the 23-year-old former rugby league superstar's code conversion has been a massive success, but on the field he has struggled to adapt.

It has never been more obvious than during the Giants' most recent games against the Gold Coast and Melbourne where his haul of four possessions has prompted calls for him to return to rugby league.

But the Giants yesterday stood firm behind their star with chief executive David Matthews declaring the club has never regretted rolling the dice on Folau.

Giants coach Kevin Sheedy also reiterated criticism of Folau is unfair so early in his development.

"The opinion of the media doesn't worry me as much as the opinions of our coaching staff," Matthews said in the lead-up to the Giants' round 22 clash with St Kilda on Saturday.

"Our coaches are on record saying he's doing everything they've asked of him.

"We're a brand new club, full of debutants. We're not going to judge players based on what their statistics are in their first year. We judge our players based on the potential our coaches see in them and the players they can develop into.

"It's all coming from outside the club, and that's not something that matters to us. It only matters what coaches like Kevin Sheedy think, someone with more than 1000 games experience."

Matthews took special exception to an article that appeared on the AFL's official website, by an AFL.com.au journalist who wrote Folau has lost interest in AFL and stopped trying on the field.

"I don't think he (the journalist) has coached 1000 games. So for the time being we'll stick with what our coaches think," he said.

But a number of AFL experts, including Hall of Fame Legend Kevin Bartlett and Geelong premiership forward Cameron Mooney, have declared Folau can no longer hide behind his status as a first-year player in a new game.

"All year I've been telling people to relax, it'll take time, but the more I watch the more I think, Israel, you're not for our game," Mooney said while watching Folau struggle on Saturday.

Folau and fellow league convert Karmichael Hunt are just two of the AFL's key planks in the code's $120 million turf war in western Sydney and southeast Queensland.

Hunt's dramatic improvement in his second season in the game suggests there is more than a morsel of hope for Folau, but his knockers will only grow in voice while his statistics continue to paint a different picture.