Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\nHe had been linked with a return to the NRL with the St George Illawarra in 2021 but the Dragons pulled out of a deal as the ARLC said it would not register his contract.<\/p>\n
Most recently he has played for Urayasu D-Rocks in Japanese rugby. <\/p>\n
Maria Folau, a former netballer for New Zealand, said her husband was set to sign a contract with the Wests Tigers after discussions with coach Benji Marshall, only for the deal to be pulled.<\/p>\n
\u201cBenji contacted Iz saying that he wanted Izzy to be a part of the West Tigers for the remainder of the season,\u201d Maria Folau said in an Instagram video you can watch above.<\/p>\n
\u201cIz told Benji that he\u2019d had to clear it with Peter V\u2019landys because of what happened with the Dragons in 2021 with Izzy being blocked to play in the NRL.<\/p>\n
\u201cBenji said, yes, all good, that he had already cleared it with V\u2019Landys and the Tigers board.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen about a week later, Benji called saying that he had hit a roadblock, that Peter had spoken to him saying that everyone has given the all clear but Wayne Pearce, who is on the Commission.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis reasoning behind not wanting Izzy to play is because of inclusiveness, whatever that means, and also that it would be a bad look to have Izzy back in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pearce, a Balmain Tigers legend and former NSW State of Origin coach, is an ARL commissioner. <\/p>\n
Maria Folau said the \u201cwhole exercise (felt) like a complete was of time\u201d. <\/p>\n
Folau commented on his wife\u2019s post, stating that other players have been given a second chance in the NRL. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe double standard from the @nrl is crazy. The game talks about inclusion, yet my Christian beliefs were said to be a problem and didn\u2019t align with their values,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the same time, players who\u2019ve committed actual offences have been welcomed back. Make it make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former Wallabies five-eighth Quade Cooper commented: \u201cThe irony of inclusivity.. excluding someone in the name of inclusion. You can\u2019t claim to champion diversity while deciding who gets to participate. Make it make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Benji Marshall recently said the 37-year-old Folau would not be joining the Tigers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the furthest thing from my mind, I need to get my team back on track,\u201d Marshall said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to focus on what\u2019s important right now … we\u2019re not signing him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Originally published as \u2018Waste of time\u2019: Israel Folau\u2019s wife claims rugby league great blocked NRL comeback<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israel Folau\u2019s wife Maria has claimed rugby league great Wayne Pearce blocked the crosscode footballer\u2019s return to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":747337,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,244438,158,85],"class_list":["post-747336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-ncaeditorialkayo","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747336","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=747336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/747337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}