Cross-code international Israel Folau wants to finish his career in the NRL after ending his tenure at Japanese rugby club Urayasu D-Rocks.
The 37-year-old’s management team has approached Wests Tigers about the prospect of a stunning comeback to the competition with Benji Marshall’s team.
It is nearly 16 years since Folau left the NRL for an experimental stint with nascent AFL team Greater Western Sydney Giants, later switching to rugby and playing 73 Tests for the Wallabies.
If he does return to rugby league, it won’t be with the Tigers, who declined the opportunity to take him on, according to a source with knowledge of the approach.
It is unclear if Folau’s camp has reached out to other clubs about book-ending his career with a second stint in the NRL. If a team was interested in him, they would have until June 30 to add him to their top-30 squad.
The NRL would have to approve his signing if a club wanted to give him a deal.
The Japanese division one rugby season has just finished, with Folau’s team finishing second last.
Injury issues limited his game time since he arrived at the club in 2021, but he was still a strike weapon in attack when he did appear, scoring 27 tries in 38 games.
He reflected on his five years at D-Rocks in a YouTube video posted online on Monday and titled “Off to the next adventure”.
“This is the only team I’ve been with since coming to Japan. It’s been a great experience for me as a player, but also off the field as well, for my wife and my kids, getting to experience Japanese lifestyle and culture,” he said. “It’s been awesome.”
Folau has played some rugby league since departing the NRL in 2010, spending a season with Catalan Dragons in the Super League before a brief stint at the Clive Palmer-backed Southport Tigers in the Gold Coast A-Grade competition in 2021.
But he has spent the bulk of his time in rugby, winning the John Eales Medal for Wallabies player of the year three times and featuring in the 2015 World Cup final for Australia. Folau was also a star of the NSW Waratahs team that won the Super Rugby competition the year before.
He played his last Test for the Wallabies in 2018 before having his contract with Rugby Australia terminated in 2019 over controversial social media posts.
Folau later represented Tonga in rugby twice in 2023.
Folau burst onto the NRL scene as a teenager in 2007 with Melbourne Storm, winning the Dally M rookie of the year award and playing in the club’s premiership victory which was later stripped for salary cap breaches.
He scored 73 tries in 91 games over four seasons for the Storm and the Brisbane Broncos and seven tries in eight State of Origin matches for Queensland as part of three Maroons series wins.
The prolific Folau also crossed the line six times in eight rugby league Tests for the Kangaroos.
Chris Barrett is a senior sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former South-East Asia correspondent for the Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.
