{"id":725501,"date":"2026-06-09T16:35:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T16:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/725501\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T16:35:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T16:35:15","slug":"nrl-club-distances-itself-from-folau-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/725501\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL club distances itself from Folau return"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Israel Folau is reportedly eyeing a stunning return to the NRL.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"body-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.2gb.com\/exclusive-israel-folau-eyeing-nrl-return\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">2GB\u2019s<\/a> Spiro Christopoulos said on Tuesday morning that the 37-year-old code-hopper is looking to finish his professional career where it all started in rugby league.<\/p>\n<p>\ufeffWatch every game of every round of the NRL Premiership LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? <a class=\"body-link\" href=\"https:\/\/kayosports.com.au\/en-AU\/welcome\/nrl?extcamp=fsaeditoriallinkleague-edt-fsp-lnk-awr-grc-nrl-kyo&amp;channel=fsa&amp;campaign=fsacontra\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Join now and get your first month for just $1.\ufeff<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI mentioned an exclusive story involving one of the most controversial, gifted and talked about figures in Australian sport, I can now reveal the identity of the athlete is Israel Folau &#8211; the former Wallaby, AFL and NRL superstar,\u201d Christopoulos said on Ben Fordham Live.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s my information today that he\u2019s been shopped around to at least \ufeffone club in the National Rugby League &#8211; that being the Wests Tigers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m told that Benji Marshall, the coach, has been approached by Israel Folau\u2019s manager. There\u2019s talk of a train and trial deal, which could be done as soon as the June 30 deadline.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Code Sports reports Folau\u2019s management reached out to see if they would be willing to sign him on a train and trial deal.<\/p>\n<p>It has been reported that the joint venture has not entertained the move but it\u2019s understood that coach Benji Marshall was made aware of the approach.<\/p>\n<p>Folau has not played in the NRL since 2010 &#8211; when the former Melbourne Storm high flyer left the Brisbane Broncos to join new AFL team the GWS Giants as a marquee player.<\/p>\n<p>Folau\u2019s AFL career was brief as he managed just 13 games for the Giants in 2011 and 2012 before switching to rugby union with the NSW Waratahs.<\/p>\n<p>The former Wallaby, who has since represented Tonga, made a brief return to rugby league with French club Catalans Dragons in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>But he is currently playing rugby union in Japan with Urayasu D-Rocks.<\/p>\n<p>Originally published as <a class=\"body-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/nrl\/nrl-2026-israel-folau-reportedly-eyeing-a-return-to-the-nrl-16-years-after-leaving-australian-rugby-league-linked-with-west-tigers-latest-news\/news-story\/04ae8d78564d68d6531b5e97d9aa6ebb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Israel Folau linked with bombshell NRL return as likely club revealed<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israel Folau is reportedly eyeing a stunning return to the NRL. 2GB\u2019s Spiro Christopoulos said on Tuesday morning&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":725502,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[1724,64,63,137085,9421,4428,7618,350895,24840,28814,9239,1208,2057,6243,2105,162639,941,2022,41606,4466,761,762,3583,158,159,2633,350894,85,27477,3586,4515],"class_list":["post-725501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-rugby-league","tag-benji-marshall","tag-brisbane-broncos","tag-cameron-ciraldo","tag-code-hopper-link","tag-david-rogers","tag-dean-ritchie","tag-eastern-asia","tag-england","tag-europe","tag-french-club","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-israel-folau","tag-japan","tag-london","tag-marquee-player","tag-melbourne-storm","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-northern-europe","tag-nrl","tag-rugby-league","tag-rugby-union","tag-spiro-christopoulos","tag-sports","tag-stunning-return","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wests-tigers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/725502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}