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Wallabies coach Michael Cheika makes appearance at Israel Folau hearing
By Online Editors
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has made an intriguing appearance at Rugby Australia (RA) headquarters in Sydney as Israel Folau fights to save his career.
Folau's high-stakes code of conduct hearing has been running for more than four hours after the three-times John Eales Medallist was issued with a "high-level" breach notice last month.
RA chief executive Raelene Castle threatened to tear up Folau's four-year, $4 million contract following his latest round of inflammatory social media posts.
The superstar fullback took to Instagram to proclaim "hell awaits drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolators" unless they repent and turn to Jesus.
He had been warned last year following a similar post claiming gays were destined for hell, before signing a rich contract extension in October.
Cheika wasn't expected to make an appearance at the hearing, and certainly not soon.
But after saying three weeks ago that he wouldn't be able to pick Folau for Australia again "as it stands right now", Cheika's sighting on Saturday raised the prospect of a possible peace offering.
Folau arrived at the landmark hearing at 9am, his Audi piercing a posse of TV cameras, photographers and reporters as it made its way through to the underground car park.
The dual international is being represented by high-profile solicitor Ramy Quatami and barrister Adam Casselden, who recently worked on the coronial inquest into the murder-suicide of Sydney family Maria Lutz and her children Ellie and Martin at the hands of their father Fernando Manrique in 2016.
Castle, along with NSW Waratahs supremo Andrew Hore, arrived shortly after, casually walking past the press pack and through the main entrance of the Rugby Australia building.
Sunday has also been reserved should the three-person panel of chair John West QC, RA representative Kate Eastman SC and the Rugby Union Players' Association-elected John Boultbee require further deliberations on what shapes as one of the most significant legal battles in Australian sport's history.
Either way, RA has already declared the panel is not expected to deliver a decision on the weekend.
A final verdict could in fact take months or even years to reach, according to an employment law expert.
"There may be some kind of settlement between the parties," said Giuseppe Carabetta, from the University of Sydney Business School, who described the complex case as a "perfect storm of conflicting religious, corporate sponsorship and moral issues".
"But if it does end up in the ordinary courts such as the federal court, potentially, those matters can take months or even a couple of years."
Folau's team was expected to argue that RA did not include a specific social media clause in his new contract and that his posts were merely passages from the Bible and not his direct words.
RA, being represented by Justin Gleeson SC, was expected to claim that regardless of no such apparent clause, Folau seriously breached the governing body's broader code of conduct policy and its inclusion policy.
If the tribunal determines that Folau has in fact breached his contract, the panel must then decide if the breach was severe enough to terminate his career.
The losing party will have until 72 hours after any decision is handed down to appeal.
AAP
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Latest Comments
Nick I think a lot of teams 10,12 and 13 combo's suffer considerably when compared to the Carter, Nonu, Smith era. I cant think of any other world combo that comes close to that combo. 3 once in a generation players all doing their thing collectively. Carter is possibably the best ever player and Nonu and Smith are world class in any generation. Im old enough to remember the runner/playmaker 12s of yesteryear and rugby was much simpler then. The defensive systems of today are so studied and practiced that the space is no longer there in the midfield.
Under Foster the backs never quite looked as fluid as the Carter, Nonu, Smith trio and thats mainly due to Mounga, Jordie B and Reiko just not being close in standard to the other 3. Your recent article around the ABs 70%, shows clearly that Mounga is no Carter and that the 12 and 13 players who have replaced Nonu and Smith just arnt Nonu and Smith.
There is hope for Razor to develop that area next year and beyond but Razor has been more conservative at centre than any other area. So far Razor has avoided change but I think it will come. Both current centres are makeshift centres who grabbed the positions due to injury and have kept them.
Spot on around WJ and his skillset tho. He certainly has a few skill deficiencies compared to many 15s and I would be very happy for him to stay at 14, but also happy if he develops his kicking and playmaking from 15 as he brings something no one else does. He is very good at passing or offloading for his support tho.
JB is still playing 15 basically. We need someone to play 12. Not just play AT 12.
Go to commentsYou've given Aus and England 2 year "era's" in the previous post Nick, I'm sure Ireland can make a case of a 2-3 year dominant period (unless you're one where its all scratched out by a loss at the big dance, and that would be fair too).
Dominance also really has to be a about effort and ability. It's getting harder to dominate, so you're not as likely to see "clear" dominance, but that doesn't mean such a team isn't the same head and shoulders distance above the others in areas like effort and ability. The full team, organized offense and then defense, of that Ireland era hits both marks for me well ahead of everyone on what they were doing, if not done with the ease or such wide margins in the outcomes.
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