A new Folau announced himself to the NRL on Friday night with John Folau scoring a brace of tries his older brother would have been proud of to help Parramatta beat South Sydney 29-16.
The 20-year-old, who is the youngest sibling of Wallabies superstar Israel Folau, bulldozed his way over the line twice in the first half of the 29-16 win, earning praise from Souths superstar Greg Inglis along the way.
Folau debuted last week against the Warriors but scored his first try under the posts after putting a huge right-foot step on the game’s best player.
Eels coach Brad Arthur said he was happy with the performance of his young winger, who is deputising for the injured Semi Radradra.
However, he said he still had a long way to go before any comparisons can be made to his brother – who had a brilliant NRL career with Brisbane, Queensland and Melbourne before moving to the AFL then rugby union.
“He’s a big strong thing, and we knew if we got him some ball and moved him into the centres he’d cause problems,” Arthur said,
“He’s still learning the game. A couple of times in defence with a couple of his decisions, he got isolated a little bit.
“Even right at the death there when we were attacking, if he got his timing right he probably could have got a third try.
“He’s going to be good for us moving forward but still has a lot of things to improve on and work on.
“His best position is probably centre, but at the moment we have to make do with what we’ve got and I thought he handled himself OK.
“It’s a tougher position to defend than in the centres but I’m sure he’s just happy to be in the team.”
Folau said he was relishing life in the NRL and said the only advice he got from Israel was to just enjoy the experience.
“I am just happy to get the opportunity,” Folau said.
“I’ve made the transition from NSW Cup and the boys have really helped me all week and I can’t thank them enough.
“I am really lucky to get this chance to just run out with the boys.”
Inglis knows all about Folau having played with Israel at both Melbourne but admitted he was shocked at the way he managed to get past him to score.
“I know him … he’s got a great right foot hasn’t he?” Inglis said.
