Israel Folau - HIGHEST PAID PLAYER in the AFL. What a joke.

[Naitawhoey]

Its also a lose lose to if say the papers go like this

Israel Folau is a huge success - AFL easiest game to play in the world, no skill involved, any lemming off the street can play. Sport is all luck. You dont need to try to play AFL. Everyone starts playing. Product starts dropping and getting duller ie. NSL

Israel Folau is huge flop - AFL has no place for athletic talent, all about running long distances, AFL is nothing but a glorified marathon with a ball, AFL is risky sport to play. Even if you have talent you wont necessarily succeed

 

[telsor]

Problem with bandwagons is it is alot easier to get people off them then on them. One knee injury and the islanders will go running back to a easier game and in bigger droves then they came in too.

For every 100 kids who give it a real go ( rather than just an auskick stat ), if 10 stay for 5 years, it's a win.

 

[Barkly St End]

Its also a lose lose to if say the papers go like this

Israel Folau is a huge success - AFL easiest game to play in the world, no skill involved, any lemming off the street can play. Sport is all luck. You dont need to try to play AFL. Everyone starts playing. Product starts dropping and getting duller ie. NSL

Israel Folau is huge flop - AFL has no place for athletic talent, all about running long distances, AFL is nothing but a glorified marathon with a ball, AFL is risky sport to play. Even if you have talent you wont necessarily succeed

Pretty bizarre conclusions.

How do we go from trying to recruit an outstanding athletete to being a game for any lemming?

And then if the outstanding athlete can't get the hang of the game, that's bad as well?

It's all bad!!

 

[legend166]

Other players need to think of it this way:

If the money being spent on Folau and Hunt turns out to be worth it, i.e. Gold Coast and GWS become popular sides and spread the game, their own salaries will go up.

More fans = more money in TV rights, sponsorship = higher salary cap = more money for players.

 

[floppinab]

I'm not from Sydney but i've heard that the size of the islander kids in junior levels of League is a turnoff to a lot of mothers who don't want their kids run over by one

And this is where our game has a massive advantage over the rugby codes in that there is very limited tackling until U11 and the there are (in comparison) very few major collisions. Unless they are very quick their size is far far less of an issue in Aussie Rules. I've seen a few islanders come through our junior club over the years and there has never been an issue.

 

[greennick]

Well with that attitude it's a wonder why the swans have any fans at all... I mean, geez, all of us from Sydney obvious have no clue about anything to do with the AFL.

Oh and Lenny is a LOCAL NORTH WEST SYDNEY JUNIOR. Pennant Hills demons boy

Don't blame me, it is the AFL that seems to have that thinking.

 

[Barkly St End]

More fans = more money in TV rights, sponsorship = higher salary cap = more money for players.

And that's the equation both the AFL and PA having been working with for a solid 20 years.

No evidence that it's about to turn around in a hurry.

 

[MARK In TIME]

Don't blame me, it is the AFL that seems to have that thinking.

You know what the awful thing is? Your actually right. You don't need the wink becasue honest to god, the AFL and Victorian aussie rules fans think we have no clue about the AFL and that we're naive enough to buy into all their bull**** with GWS.

Anyone in Sydney who actually gives a damn likes the swans. Strong club with a good image. Let's not forget the 100, 000 (admittedly quite a few were band wagon) supporters who came out of the woodwork and attended the 2005 premiership street parade.

People here know the AFL, but treat it similarly to how Victorians treats league - like its doesn't exist, becasue frankly they don't care.

 

[Professor Knowall]

Mate I've been involved in junior AFL in Sydney for 10 years. On the back of this today a club I'm associated has just been approached by two very big 10 and 12 years old kids of islander background looking to move into AFL.
This my friends is the tip of a reasonably sized iceberg.

This.

 

[finders]

Mate I've been involved in junior AFL in Sydney for 10 years. On the back of this today a club I'm associated has just been approached by two very big 10 and 12 years old kids of islander background looking to move into AFL.
This my friends is the tip of a reasonably sized iceberg.

Yep I reckon the islander kids will flock to Australian Football and that will hurt thugby very badly = great move AFL!

 

[Mcveigh]

Yep I reckon the islander kids will flock to Australian Football and that will hurt thugby very badly = great move AFL!

hurt rugby?? what about the poor little kids they will flatten in auskick!

 

[HFF]

I like it.

This should be a wake-up call to all clubs/officials etc. that AFL players are severely underpaid in comparison to other sporting codes and judging by the the public outcry from current players, general public etc it has already shaken things up.

If he ends up becoming a bonafide superstar, this will turn out to be a stroke of genius. If he doesn't it is still money well spent considering the amount of exposure Izzy and Hunt bring into those developing markets. They are basically putting AFL on the map in those areas.

 

[TheOz]

Yep I reckon the islander kids will flock to Australian Football and that will hurt thugby very badly = great move AFL!

You base this on what, mere hearsay or have you conducted the research?

 

[vjknight]

im genuinely pleased to see THIS forum can generally see beyong the dollars and appreciate what this signing is all about - coverage/marketing.

go and read the comments sections of news sites, and other forums dotted on the web - clearly the folks who DONT live and breathe footy cant fathom what has really occurred here.

can all the cynics come back in 2 years time and say the same thing - i doubt it very much.

 

[demoniac]

AFL players jealous of what Hunt and Folau are getting should look at their career earnings and give thanks that they grew up playing Aussie Rules not Rugby League and thus AFL instead of NRL. Simple fact is that because they are AFL players instead of NRL players their career earnings are pretty much double. And this is because since the AFL Commission took over the running of the game in the 80s the AFL has been the best administered sport in the country.

Hunt and Folau can deliver what even an Ablett or a Judd cannot and that is generating media exposure and supporter interest in the new teams because they are established stars in the dominant code in the regions where their teams are located.

And there is no reason both cannot succeed at AFL. Both are elite professional athletes with good hands. As for kicking it appears a bit odd to me that we can teach an Irish Hurler or Gaelic Footballer to kick but some people think there is now way we can teach a rugby league convert to kick.

 

[TheOz]

AFL players jealous of what Hunt and Folau are getting should look at their career earnings and give thanks that they grew up playing Aussie Rules not Rugby League and thus AFL instead of NRL. Simple fact is that because they are AFL players instead of NRL players their career earnings are pretty much double. And this is because since the AFL Commission took over the running of the game in the 80s the AFL has been the best administered sport in the country.

Hunt and Folau can deliver what even an Ablett or a Judd cannot and that is generating media exposure and supporter interest in the new teams because they are established stars in the dominant code in the regions where their teams are located.

And there is no reason both cannot succeed at AFL. Both are elite professional athletes with good hands. As for kicking it appears a bit odd to me that we can teach an Irish Hurler or Gaelic Footballer to kick but some people think there is now way we can teach a rugby league convert to kick.

Would you accept someone that has zero experience in your chosen field to come into your workplace and command a salary three times more than what you're being paid, despite the fact that you not only have the prerequisite training/scholarship to do your job but have actually been in your job for x number of years?

 

[Santana]

Sad day for Australian Sport. To think Israel may never represent this country again is quite depressing really. What a waste.

 

[t-love]

im genuinely pleased to see THIS forum can generally see beyong the dollars and appreciate what this signing is all about - coverage/marketing.

Likewise.

Everyone is screaming its all a publicity stunt. Well it is. Thats the idea.

People are screaming where has the loyalty gone. He is in his fourth year of the NRL and 18 months at a new club. He is respecting his current contract and leaving afterwards.

On the news sites peopl are commenting like crazy and some are saying they will watch it just to see how he goes then turn off. This grabs a market that would not have otherwised been captured with a million dollars of natural AFL talent from the usual states.

Pretty excited to see how it goes. Just wonder if he will miss the limelight next year.

 

[Corrosion]

Zing!

News for you mate, Gary Ablett is too.

 

[sainter12riewoldt]

i can understand about carmichael playing for GC17 as he has played aussie rules in his teens but Folau has not played before

thats one spot a kid who has played footy since they were seven misses out on.

 

[Mcveigh]

Would you accept someone that has zero experience in your chosen field to come into your workplace and command a salary three times more than what you're being paid, despite the fact that you not only have the prerequisite training/scholarship to do your job but have actually been in your job for x number of years?

You ever heard of or watched the reality tv show called "The Apprentice" ??

You're fired.

 

[Team Mo']

Why do people care what players from other clubs are paid? If it's legal than I'm fine with anyone being any amount...

 

[Power King]

we sign basketball players and gaelic footballers all the time.

israel is not only an elite athlete/player at his chosen sport, but one that will help grow the game.

a lot of boys in this thread acting like jealous bitches

the no-name basketballer/gaelic footballer gets a far easier ride than the bloke who's worked his guts off in his local/state leagues his whole life but doesn't get paid a fat sum. the supreme athlete gets the same free ride but with a fat pay cheque and the insecurities of the plebs comes to the fore.

 

[Crows4Flag]

Stop complaining. If GWS wants to pay one of the biggest freak athletes ever to play NRL massive amounts of dollars to play our favourite code then its only going to be good for the league. I guarantee he will be good enough just based on athletic ability. Just look at Nic Nat. He got taken number 2 in the draft just because of his athletic ability. Izzys only 21 and given time will be a an absolute excitement machine.

 

[Lance Uppercut]

You. Calculating what the equivalent space in the daily telegraph would cost if you had to pay for it is irrelevant. This is exactly what i'm referring to as "shallow". What matters is the actual long term benefit to the game, factoring in all likely costs and benefits and acknowledging all risks. If Izzy is a success and results in 2000 extra members for GWS than all is well. If he fails than this whole "experiment" may cost more than the 1 million plus a year.

where did I say it was coming from the salary cap ?

you cant convince me that a very good player on $400K wouldn't be pissed about VFL players being on twice the money that they are on

I understand the concept of what the AFL are tying to do, its all just a marketing exercise but at the same time its a slap in the face of any player who is on less than these two Rugby League players

the point, gents, is that if strategy like this helps grow the game; & has an impact in one of the biggest markets; & increases TV network profitability to beam AFL into Sydney, thus increasing the money that can be generated by coverage deals, then every player in the competition stands to benefit because there is more money to go around, particularly to the players!

Chaz, it's ironic you're throwing around the shallow tag, mate. You're thinking of it in terms of just getting more members for GWS? Tigga please...

None of that even takes into account the legitimate hopes of growth in participation by youth.

As for other players being "pissed off"... give me a break. These are professionals.