Steve Jancetic: Self interest behind Folau's Origin selection

Israel Folau will turn out for Queensland in Brisbane despite widespread pleas for selectors to leave him out of the squad. Photo / Supplied

Opinion

For all the tough talking bravado, self interest has won out again north of the Tweed River.

Israel Folau was retained by Queensland selectors for Origin II, the Maroons handing the 21-year-old the chance to strut his stuff on rugby league's biggest stage.

A week after Folau being branded disloyal by players, coaches and officials for taking up an AFL contract, the Queenslanders performed a backflip en masse that would have put Nadia Comaneci's perfect ten to shame.

According to officials, they did it for the people of Queensland, who they claim deserve a team that has the best opportunity to win a record fifth straight series.

Win at all costs.

Skipper Darren Lockyer said last week "the jersey is bigger than any one player" - unless it seems that player is a 195cm behemoth who scores tries for the fun of it.

With financial reward unlikely to be a deterrent any time soon, representative jumpers were seen as the last bastion of hope for a code desperate to hold onto its biggest stars.

Not anymore.

Short-sighted Queensland officials have seen to that.

This isn't just a free kick for the AFL, it's a 50 metre penalty with the QRL on report for bringing the game into disrepute.

Israel Folau is one of the finest rugby league players in the game today, but if he leaps high to take a 'specky' like his jaw-dropping effort in Sydney back in 2008, what do officials think will be on the back pages of the next day's papers?

It must be remembered, the AFL did not poach Folau for his AFL talents, they signed him on as a sporting ambassador, a man to spread the word about Aussie Rules in a bid to get more kids to turn away from rugby league to take up aerial ping-ping.

Folau won't become the AFL's pin-up boy next year, he is already one now.

What are the chances of the ten-day build up to Origin II being a AFL-free zone, a point noted by Queensland elder statesman Petero Civoniceva a day after Folau broke the news of his defection.

"If he was selected, the talk wouldn't be about Origin, it would be about AFL and Izzy's move and it would take the spotlight off our game," Civoniceva said.

"... I'm happy for him but we do have to do what's best for our game."

Unfortunately for the rest of us, blinkered Queensland officials still don't realise 'our game' stretches beyond the Tweed.

- AAP