St George Illawarra withdraw from race to sign Israel Folau

A day after their pursuit of Israel Folau became public fodder, St George Illawarra decided it was all too much.

Israel Folau’s potential move to the NRL will not dominate the meeting of ARLC commissioners on Thursday Picture: Getty Images

Just like that, it was over. A day after their pursuit of Israel Folau became public fodder, St George Illawarra decided it was all too much.

The backlash, the headaches, the hurdles. They had the money, but neither the time nor the patience to press ahead with their pursuit of Folau.

With an ARL Commission meeting planned for Thursday, where the Folau matter was scheduled to be briefly discussed, the Dragons took the pre-emptive step of holding their own board meeting where they pulled the pin on their pursuit of the dual international.

They confirmed their stance on their website late Wednesday night.

“While the Dragons did enquire about signing Folau, the club can confirm that such discussions have now ceased,”. they said.

If Folau is to return to the NRL, it won’t be in Wollongong. Or at WIN Stadium for that matter.

Someone else will need to come to the party, although the Dragons will serve as a warning to interested parties of the hoops they have to jump through if they are to count the 31-year-old among their ranks.

The NRL had indicated that they would reserve their judgment on Folau when the matter was initially raised. That was one problem for the Dragons.

From there, they kept piling up. Among the challenges, there was the matter of the six-figure release fee demanded by Catalans, the Super League club where Folau had another year remaining on his contract.

Their owner had indicated he would only allow Folau to exit his contract if they received some hefty compensation.

The ARL Commission had also reserved their judgment. As late as Wednesday, chair Peter V’landys indicated they would waste precious little time discussing the prospect of a Folau return with his fellow ARL commissioners.

He would sit down with Folau at some point if it came to that. But it would need the Dragons to send them a contract and apply for registration.

The task was becoming increasingly difficult. As for the backlash, it was mixed. Folau has his supporters – NSW coach Brad Fittler on Wednesday suggested he would like to see Folau back in the fold – but no shortage of people who would prefer to see him kept at a distance.

Former international Ian Roberts was among those to question why the Dragons would want Folau in their ranks, telling Nine newspapers it was akin to welcome a “hurricane of offal” into your club.

V’landys was more cautious with his words in the lead-up to a meeting of the ARL Commission on Thursday, placing the ball firmly back in the court of the Dragons as they attempt to bring Folau back to the game.

“The NRL do not have an application to register the player,” V’landys told The Australian.

“So we are not going to hypothesise anything tomorrow. All that will happen tomorrow is that it will be raised that the St George Illawarra club have inquired about it.

“That is all they have done. I am not going to take the commission’s time or anyone else’s time for that matter to discuss something that hasn’t been lodged.

“Let them make a decision, let them go through the proper process.”

V’landys indicated that he would sit down with Folau if need be. It won’t be necessary now. Not unless another club comes to the party.

They will confront the same challenges that were faced by the Dragons. As part of the registration process, section 44 of the Playing Contract and Renumeration Rules dictates that the governing body should have regard to the background, antecedents and personal history of the person applying to play.

It adds that the game should consider whether the person has previously engaged in conduct such that his registration as a player, might bring into disrepute, or be detrimental to the interests, welfare or image of, the NRL, his club, the NRL competition or the game.

Finally, it deems that the governing body consider whether the person has engaged in conduct of the kind that, if repeated in the future, might bring into disrepute or be detrimental to the interests, welfare or image of the NRL, his club, the NRL competition or the game.

On any reading of the rules, the NRL would seemingly have the right to reject Folau’s registration because of his previous comments on social media, which prompted sponsors to consider their association with the Rugby Australia.

The rules further add that any club would have no right to review the decision or pursue any legal recourse.

Folau’s future has dominated the NRL to the extent that St George Illawarra captain Cameron McInnes’ decision to accept an offer from Cronulla for next season has taken a backseat.

McInnes, however, spoke on Wednesday and conceded he could understand if the club opted to appoint another skipper.

“We haven’t had those discussions,” he said.

“I’d love to be captain, but if the club need to go in another direction for the future I completely understand and I will be doing everything I can to help that person and just being a leader in my own right.”