Folau success highlights ARL/AIS program

The success of Melbourne Storm sensation Israel Folau has highlighted the strength of the Australian Rugby League’s joint High Performance Unit with the Australian Institute of Sport.

Folau, who yesterday became the youngest player ever selected for the Kangaroos, was part of the ARL/AIS unit in 2005 and 2006, culminating in his devastating performances with the Australian Schoolboys team during its 2006 tour of Europe.

The ARL/AIS High Performance Unit, based at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, consists of four camps per year for Australia’s elite junior rugby league talent. 

ARL/AIS High Performance Unit coach Brian Johnson said the program targeted talented players from outside the NSW Rugby League junior representative system.

“The program is designed to find players outside the NSW junior rep system who might not have had the same level of coaching as those players within it,” Johnson said. 

“That’s the nature of our program or why the program exists, to find those players we identify with talent and increase and improve upon the coaching they have already received.”

Johnson said he could not have predicted Folau’s outstanding season in 2007 – which included a Storm club record 21 NRL tries, rookie of the year award and Kangaroos selection – but said his supreme talent was clearly evident during his time with the ARL/AIS contingent. 

“I don’t think you can ever really think someone is going to become the youngest Kangaroo ever,” Johnson said.

“[But] He was very talented; very athletic and good on his feet, and had a good shape which would allow him to put some weight on. 

“And his skills were just sensational – during two [Australian] Schoolboys games in France he took two of the best catches you’d ever see in your life… full-on fingertip takes at full stretch.”

Johnson said the ARL/AIS High Performance Unit would have aided Folau’s development, but paid tribute to the development units within the Melbourne Storm. 

“We would like to think we’ve made a good contribute to his development,” Johnson said.

“Obviously there have been other things, such as Melbourne’s development officers, and before us he was at footy schools in Brisbane as well as playing at junior level in Sydney.”

Folau is not the first player to have made an impact in the NRL following graduation from the ARL/AIS High Performance Unit. Brisbane Broncos giant David Taylor, who enjoyed a stunning debut season in 2007, and Sydney Roosters up and comer Mitchell Aubusson both joined Folau in the ARL/AIS squad in 2005.

The ARL/AIS High Performance Unit currently has several players touring New Zealandwith the Australian Schoolboys, including talented Queenslanders Ryan Hansen and Ben Hunt, Daniel Mortimer, Ryan Williamson and Jake Friend. 

Johnson said the High Performance Unit awards up to 30 scholarships annually, and predicted several more will join Folau, Aubusson and Taylor in the NRL in years to come.

“There’s no doubt some of our players will become future first-grade stars - which ones will be hard to tell,” Johnson said. 

“Our scholarship players who are off with the Australian Schoolboys are the kids at the top of the tree in regards to where they sit in the scheme of things, compared to other players who would be looking for NRL contracts.”

SOURCE: Doug MacDougall, ARL Media