{"id":938572,"date":"2026-10-23T22:56:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T22:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/938572\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T22:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T22:56:14","slug":"israel-folau-2026-retirement-news-legacy-explored-wallabies-nrl-afl-trailblazer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/938572\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel Folau 2026 retirement news: Legacy explored; Wallabies, NRL, AFL trailblazer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israel Folau<\/a> has left a complicated legacy behind after calling time on his controversial, trailblazing, three-code career at the age of 37.<\/p>\n

Folau told Code Sports on Thursday that he was retiring from professional sport after his attempt at a potential NRL<\/a> return with Wests Tigers<\/a> was blocked by the Australian Rugby League Commission.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Israel Folau runs out for the Wallabies under a rainbow.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

In his pomp, the towering outside back was breathtaking to watch.<\/p>\n

The prodigy from Minto debuted in the NRL as a 17-year-old, made his Kangaroos bow at 18 and entered the State of Origin cauldron at 19.<\/p>\n

He thrived on all rugby league stages with ridiculous ease and his NSW Waratahs<\/a> teammates called him \u2018Winx\u2019.<\/p>\n

Folau had the long stride glide of a thoroughbred and his aerial ability \u2013 and marketing pull \u2013 attracted the attention of the AFL, despite him having no background in the game.<\/p>\n

He signed a four-year, $6 million contract with the GWS Giants<\/a> to be part of their inaugural list, but pulled the pin after kicking two goals in 13 games over two years.<\/p>\n

He clearly gave the transition to Aussie rules his best shot, but the move ultimately proved too tricky for even his array of skills. <\/p>\n

Folau then became the first man to play league, AFL and rugby professionally when he inked a lucrative deal to become the new face of the Wallabies.<\/a><\/p>\n

He became the leading try-scorer in Super Rugby history, scoring 60 in 96 games.<\/p>\n

That record has since been broken \u2013 and so has Folau\u2019s relationship with the code.<\/p>\n

For all his try-scoring heroics, Folau will be most widely remembered for his sensational sacking by RA.<\/p>\n

In 2019, months before the Rugby World Cup, Folau torched his legacy with a series of anti-gay social media posts.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Israel Folau.\u00a09News<\/p>\n

Folau shared an Instagram post stating that \u201chell awaits\u201d homosexuals, adulterers, thieves and atheists.<\/p>\n

He has since played out his career in relative obscurity in Japan.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I\u2019m done now. I\u2019m not looking for any other opportunity in terms of playing at that level,\u201d Folau said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I\u2019m still sort of processing it now. Still very fresh, I guess. It hasn\u2019t really sunk in just yet. I look across my time playing the game, I was very blessed to play at the highest level for even that long.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not common for players to get to play at that level for that long. I\u2019m very thankful and grateful for the career I\u2019ve gotten to have.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think maybe in a year\u2019s time it will sink in a bit more, and you sit back and reflect. At the moment I\u2019m still going through that process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Folau has not backed down from his offensive comments.<\/p>\n

\"Israel<\/p>\n

Israel Folau\u00a0AAP<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell you what I do stand for,\u201d Folau said in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a Christian, I stand by the Bible and what the Bible says. Every written word that\u2019s written in that book, I stand by that and that\u2019s all I\u2019ll say about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Folau remains an influential figure within Australian sporting circles.<\/p>\n

He is a mentor to current Wallabies star Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii.<\/p>\n

Suaalii met Folau as a teenager when former coach Michael Cheika invited him into a Wallabies camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really looked up to him when I was younger,\u201d Suaalii said in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a young kid, I feel like I really wanted to ask a lot of questions. I feel like it\u2019s been one of my strengths, just learning, and I feel like Israel was someone I could look up to and ask questions to. Every now and then I do catch up with him, and he\u2019s a great mentor in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Israel<\/p>\n

Israel Folau scores a try against England.\u00a0AAP<\/p>\n

Folau scored 37 tries in 73 Tests before being sacked and is arguably the country\u2019s best league-to-union convert.<\/p>\n

His sacking upset many of his Pasifika teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose guys are still healing, including myself,\u201d Wallabies great Sekope Kepu said in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a time there when we sort of didn\u2019t know what was going on. Things were being said in the media and a lot was going on at the time. Everyone is finding their feet and slowly getting back into footy now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then-RA chief executive Raelene Castle received death threats after tearing up his contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to close down the office and have extra security, and my house had to be checked out to make sure that it was safe and that no one could get into it or find me,\u201d Castle said in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality of it is that we were very firm in our values. So we\u2019re very clear that his social media messaging was totally inappropriate. It was a breach of an employment contract.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Israel Folau.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it was also about the values the organisation stood for, and unless you\u2019re actually prepared to stand up and back in those values, and say, \u2018Yes, that\u2019s what we believe in and this is who we stand for as an organisation\u2019, then those values don\u2019t mean anything to anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch the Wallabies in action in November\u2019s Nations Championship.\u00a0Add the Stan Sport package<\/a>\u00a0to watch rugby live and on demand with no ad-breaks in play<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israel Folau has left a complicated legacy behind after calling time on his controversial, trailblazing, three-code career at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":938573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-938572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938572","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=938572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/938573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=938572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=938572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=938572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}