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

[MF]

Not sure if rugby fans (obviously rugby areas) are going to follow these guy's. Nearly as ridiculous as Geelong fans following G Ablett to GC, if he went.

That's a very simplistic view.

It's not about immediately converting RL fans into AFL fans because of 2 signings. It's about media exposure, branding, market saturation and other things I don't profess to know a lot about other than the fact they work.

 

[TheOz]

Conversely, could argue it takes a very special type of "athlete".

Afterall, you're not earning $1 mill per annum, and I'm not either, so that's two of us that aren't up to it.

No, just an athlete with marketing potential. If you're happy that human billboards are going to earn more than the best players in the league then so be it.

Folau is hardly a loved character in Western Sydney, his defection to GWS isn't going to make him loved anymore, nor is it going to make the people out there anymore interested in Aussie Rules, in fact it'll turn them against this GWS project even more.

 

[Bombertastic]

Anyone that understands marketing will understand this.

That's all there is to it.

Marketing.

So people can get upset all they like but when you decide to go into a new market you gotta go in balls and all. This is just one part of the plan the AFL have to grow and secure the game of aussie rules.

Whether it will work is another question but you can't hang it on them for doing this once the decision was made to expand to these markets.

There will be plenty of things they do over the next 10-20 years that will cost more than this and wont work nearly as well regardless of if Israel plays a game or not.

People understand that aspect of it. I certainly do. However, at what cost in credability and integrity to both the AFL and GWS?? That money could have been spent better on luring real AFL players who may not help with marketing like Folau but could, you know, win some games.

After all Gordan Tallis was right. This will get people watching and listening for the first 4 weeks or so but what happens after the side struggles and sits on the bottom of the ladder. Quickest way to build membership and a supporter base is to build a competitive team. Not waste such money on marketing. Do you really think without Folau people aren't going to know when and where GWS's first game is and not be interested? How many extra tickets and TV viewers is this truely worth.

 

[Barkly St End]

Not sure if rugby fans (obviously rugby areas) are going to follow these guy's. Nearly as ridiculous as Geelong fans following G Ablett to GC, if he went.

With respect, I'm not sure if the analogy stands.

We rarely swap clubs we have followed all our lives.

But the lot of the professional sportsman is not so set in stone.

This is about publicly demonstrating that the AFL is a valid career choice for the aspiring professional sportsman, and it's much better that that occur in the early to mid teens than later.

These signings are as much about breaking down mental barriers as anything else (gayfl, aerial ping poing, etc)

 

[sherrinorburley]

they arent the target or the point.

The young polynesians (or any race/background) of western sydney now have a ready made star to look up to - playing our game.

It's when the next generation mature, is when the dividends are paid. The AFL has a better chance now at converting them, than they did last week.

The current generation is not the point, they will never change.

Fair enough. Sad times for Tas and NT.

 

[mustapha]

Would Justin Bieber have been a good fit for GWS? The AFL missed a big opportunity when he was out here recently.

He is only young now so he should fill out in time for the launch of the new team. You could easily get away with hiding him in the forward pocket and by then his music career will have stalled so he may be looking for a quick way to earn some cash.

He would instantly attract millions of teenage girls to GWS. That kind of exposure is invaluable.

 

[DarkPhoenix]

Think you have to separate the dollars he's paid for playing with the dollars he is paid for generating publicity and interest in a non-heartland area.

According to a friend of mine (Who lives in west sydney) there is next to no interest in Folau in that area though... Huge risk to take

 

[TheOz]

People understand that aspect of it. I certainly do. However, at what cost in credability and integrity to both the AFL and GWS?? That money could have been spent better on luring real AFL players who may not help with marketing like Folau but could, you know, win some games.

After all Gordan Tallis was right. This will get people watching and listening for the first 4 weeks or so but what happens after the side struggles and sits on the bottom of the ladder. Quickest way to build membership and a supporter base is to build a competitive team. Not waste such money on marketing. Do you really think without Folau people aren't going to know when and where GWS's first game is and not be interested? How many extra tickets and TV viewers is this truely worth.

Exactly, any support garnered by this publicity stunt will be short lived. It's nothing short of a freakshow coming to town, it'll get old quickly.

 

[Barkly St End]

No, just an athlete with marketing potential. If you're happy that human billboards are going to earn more than the best players in the league then so be it.

Folau is hardly a loved character in Western Sydney, his defection to GWS isn't going to make him loved anymore, nor is it going to make the people out there anymore interested in Aussie Rules, in fact it'll turn them against this GWS project even more.

It's not necessarily about getting people to follow GWS.

It's as much about opening up the eyes of top line athletes to what is possible if they have an aptitude for a game like Australian football, preferably in their early to mid teens.

 

[sherrinorburley]

It's about media exposure, branding, market saturation and other things I don't profess to know a lot about other than the fact they work.

50k Hungry Jack's eating Eagle fans can't be wrong, but yes, i see what you are saying.

 

[MARK In TIME]

Person from western sydney here. Love the AFL, but at the same time love the NRL. I've been listening to SEN radio all morning and it amazes me to here what the people in Melbourne think.

The AFL and Victorian aussie rules fans seem to believe this is a perfect marketing ploy. I tend to disagree. The overwhelming sentiment here in Sydney is that Izzy chased money and left and that the AFL is trying to get its paws on the NRL's talent.

Indeed, it IS bringng lots of publicity, but ALL of it is negative. All this sort stunt breeds is resentment and hatred towards the AFL. Yes people will be initially interested in GWS, but let me assure you that it's becasue they will all be waiting for Falou to fail so they can make a mockery of the AFL.

Really all this is doing is galvanising the NRL as an orgainsiation and really inciting a 'them' vs. 'us' mentality.

Furthermore, Israel Folau is not a local Western Sydney boy. I was SPEWING while they were mentioning that in the press conference. He choose his allegiance long ago and he didn't consider himself NSW enough (despite coming from Minto) to want to pull on the Sky Blue jersey. Everyone here knows exactly what he is and no Kevin Sheedy spin is really going to change that. We all think he's a liar as well, becasue when leaving Melbourne to go to Brisbane he said it was for family reasons. 2 years later here he is, going to GWS where supposedly he has family as well.

If they wanted an NRL player he wasn't the right one, becasuse most Sydneysiders are thinking 'good riddance' whilst its the QLDers that are more disappointed.

I'm all for the expansion of the AFL. I'm so glad the AFL is finally investing a little into Sydney and not just leaving the swans to try and make an impact. However I think their approach is seriously misguided. Where we need investment is in the grassroots level. All their money they've pumped into Falou should have going into the local junior clubs in their area so that aussie rules becomes for kids a viable option. They should be trying to develop the next Lenny Hayes FFS!


I also think that they should have tried to make greater alliances with the Swans instead of having Kevin Sheedy sticking his boot into Paul Roos and trying to undermine the Swans legitimacy as the local AFL side. If they faced this frontier together it would be a lot easier, but now their on their own in this market.

The reality is GWS hasn't at all entreated itself to Sydney. With the signing of Izzy they've earned the ire of NRL fans (who obviously live in GWS too), but at the same time they've pushed away what would have been a good alliance, by having a go at the swans.

The money they dished out is ridiculous and it shows a lack of respect to current players who are far superior in every sense than Israel Folau.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

This is a great call.

I thought the whole point of expansion clubs was to have an impact such that kids who would grow up otherwise playing other sports, will grow up now kicking a footy in their lunch hour. What better way to achieve this than to show someone who is an idol to them, doing it.

While I quibble at how much we're paying them, and I can understand those who aren't happy with that, I can't understand those who are against the actual decision. If you go into new markets you have to get attention, capture the kids, and generate massive publicity, and this is a fantastic way to do it.

 

[Subprime]

According to a friend of mine (Who lives in west sydney) there is next to no interest in Folau in that area though... Huge risk to take

Channel's 7 & 9 obviously erred in crossing live to the press conference then.

 

[TheOz]

No. Tallis was wrong and bitter.

When Mundine went from NRL to boxing there were 5,000 people paying upwards of $50 to watch him fight no-names in non-title fights. Most of these fans are NRL fans not boxing fans, and they have stuck with him.

Folau will generate massive interest and for his entire career. He WILL be a major hero in GWS.

Its sad for the NRL that 4 don't fit into 3 (AFL, Soccer, ARU, ARL) because they can't all make it on the same scale. I rank NRL as the 2nd best sport out of those 4 but it will be relegated to provinciality.

NRL and boxing aren't competing football codes.

For the sake of the AFL, they would hope that these two blokes can play abit, otherwise it's going to look ridiculous for them.

In terms of Folau being a "major hero" in the future, he is hardly liked out there right now, perhaps a Jarryd Hayne type would have worked but Folau isn't exactly loved in Western Sydney, he represents Qld in SoO and has played for the two teams most in NSW despise the most, Brisbane and Melbourne. Him kicking a Sherrin around isn't going to make him anymore loved, it'll just substantiate the claims that he is a mercenary.

 

[Dan26]

. Here we have a guy that has never played a game of AFL footy in his life, signing a contract today to the tune of 6 million over 4 years. I congratulate GWS and understand the theory behind the signing, but today is the first day that i feel completely sorry for Geelong and the Cats.

Why feel sorry for Geelong? Life isn't meant to be fair. The money Israel will be on is not as much about his talent but about the exposure and marketing that he will bring to the sport. Yes the SPORT of Aussie Rules itself. The sport being bigger than ahny one club, of course.

No club would be able to afford a contract like the one Folau is on

So, what if the other clubs couldn't afford to pay a play what Folau is getting? It's not as if GWS are getting an experienced gun player, and the other clubs are annoyed that GWS can pay this experienced gun player 1 million a year.

No, GWS are getting a risk. The fact he is getting one million dollars a year is because of the marketing component, which is worth every cent.

When Kamichael Hunt went to the Gold Coast, the AFL estimated the worth of the exposure and marketing by having a well known NRL player playing for a Qld AFL team, was worth up to 10 times what he was geting paid.

You could argue Hunt and Folau aren't getting paid enough for the enourmous exposure this brings to Australian Rules Football in two states (Qld and NSW) that house 60% of Australia's population.

Maybe they don't deserve to be the two highest paid players based on Aussie Rules ability. But they do deserve to be among the two highest paid players for what their presence is worth to the sport.

They might be paying these two players a million dollars a year but they are worth many millions more to the AFL.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

exactly. Couldn't have put it better myself.

Why doesn't the AFL get on TV in Sydney until 11pm? Because no **** watches it.

This type of investment - & that's what it is, an investment - allows the possibility of increased interested in the code & a chance to change the viability of AFL by increasing the profitability of networks showing it.

To get outraged by it is just dumb. It is what it is. It's not money that's coming out of the ranks of junior AFL, no one will be disadvantaged; quite the opposite.

It's from the marketing budget. The type of exposure the AFL get's from these defections simply could not be bought. You cannot place a dollar value on it. The AFL would have to spend at least 10 times that to get this type of publicity, & even that wouldn't come close to this because people aren't emotionally engaged by advertising in the way they are with this type of thing

Agreed.

And all of that benefit is gained even if he never makes it (though I think he can). That's what people bagging it don't understand. This is not about creating a quality player, as much as getting people to listen to GWS. And if you're going into Western Sydney that's exactly what you have to do to get coverage, let alone kids and members.

 

[AcidFiend]

Judd's already paid outside the cap

Zing!

Surely people are smarter than that.
If Jonathon Brown were to announce tomorrow that he was signing a similar deal with the Melbourne Rebels, if I was a supporter (of the Rebels) I doubt I'd be too happy about playing host to a money circus.

Don't over-estimate the average intelligence of a rugby league fan.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

What can this guy do on a NRL scale anyway? Can he tackle, catch a ball, run? What??

Get a hold of some footage.

Massive vertical leap, giant marking skills, in fact the Storm pretty much built their whole offensive game around him marking the football.

Obviously developing a bigger tank, which he'll need to run out an AFL game, and 360 degree vision, are massive challenges, but in terms of pure athleticism, he's one of the best you could pluck out of the NRL.

 

[Ice-Wolf]

The way i see it it a Win-Win for the AFL.

Alot of NRL followers will watch Gold Coast and Western Sydney for 1 of 2 reason
1. To see the 'traitors' get their arses kicked
2. To see the 'traitors' dominate the GayFL players

Either way that is a lot of people tuning in who otherwise wouldn't and they will be watching the game with a lot more interest than they would have otherwise

 

[flight23]

great league player but **** me he's full of s**t

leaves melbourne because hes "homesick", goes to brisbane, stays there for a year then moves again to go "home and be with his family" even though he plays for queensland


chris judd mercenary efforts pale into comparison of this guy, he'll play this contract out and probably go to france and play union for more cash, claiming hes got an uncle over there and "be close to his family"

ive got no idea how hes gonna go on the field, but off it, young guys playing with him and looking up to him aren't going to be instilled with a sense of loyalty and club first

 

[Dan26]

All their money they've pumped into Falou should have going into the local junior clubs in their area so that aussie rules becomes for kids a viable option. They should be trying to develop the next Lenny Hayes FFS!
.

I don't understand this logic. Why can't they do both?

The AFL will soon sign a one Billion dollar TV deal. Over the next 20 years they will spend tens of millons maybe hundreds of million developing the game at grassroots level in Qld and NSW. In fact, they're doing it now.

Just because they make a big signing at the top level, doesn't mean they have stopped developing the game at the base level. The AFL can, and will afford to invest in the game at both the top and bottom tiers.

 

[Naitawhoey]

Would Justin Bieber have been a good fit for GWS? The AFL missed a big opportunity when he was out here recently.

He is only young now so he should fill out in time for the launch of the new team. You could easily get away with hiding him in the forward pocket and by then his music career will have stalled so he may be looking for a quick way to earn some cash.

He would instantly attract millions of teenage girls to GWS. That kind of exposure is invaluable.

Haha this is too true. Got a feeling GWS will line up like

FB: Justin Biebler Russel Crowe Hugh Jackman
HB: David Warner Lucas Neill Guy Sebastian
C: Will Anderson Andrew O Keefe Dave Hughes
HF: Israel Folau Mark Schwarzer Allen Iverson
FF: Shannon Noll Stirling Mortlock Kelli Underwood
R: Shaquille O Neal Rove McManus David Koch
I/C: Joel Selwood Brett Deledio Lenny Hayes Ian Thorpe

 

[damochandler]

does it really bother you personally though?? honestly how does what izzy is getting paid have any affect on you??

the bloke has had more exposure to afl than any of the irish boys have had so the talk about him failing is ridicoulous lets hope he succeeds.

it has nothing to do with me or if it bothers me. this money should be invested in getting players that are going to be there for a long time. not in a sports person that is there as a freak show and that's all it is. gws and the afl know it and so does everyone else

 

[Lockyer24]

After the Storm stuff I am more than happy to see players leave the competition in droves. Not that I like the turds who run the AFL either though.

 

[mattys123]

Judd's already paid outside the cap

Judd is already earning close to 1.5 Mill if you believe some reports anyway, especially if you add in the "contract" his missus amazingly got as soon as she moved with him.

As for Folau, get over it, most of the money being paid to him is for marketing purposes, and the 1.5 Mill is such a small amount compared to the amount of money the AFL will sink into the 2 new clubs over the next 4-5 years.

Expect upwards of $100 Milllion to be spent on the 2 new clubs in that time period, and all of a sudden 1.5 Mill seems very small.

And you say highest paid, Well rumours are Gary Jnr might be getting something very similar next year from the GC, so there's no proof that in 2 years Israel will be the AFL's highest paid player.

And so what if he is, this is a business now, not only a sport, and this makes good business sense.