Overview
- Folau and his wife, Maria, said on Thursday that Wests Tigers coach Benji Marshall had been told the former international was cleared to join on a short-term deal before ARL commissioner Wayne Pearce intervened.
- The Wests Tigers did not lodge a contract and Marshall publicly told reporters the club would not sign Folau, while the club declined further comment.
- The NRL and Pearce have been approached for comment and have declined to respond to the allegation.
- A source close to Folau’s camp has said restraint-of-trade legal action is being considered on the basis that a registration was effectively blocked, a step that could force a formal legal review of how the NRL applies its registration rules.
- The episode revives earlier disputes—including Folau’s 2019 Rugby Australia sacking for controversial social posts and a failed 2021 NRL approach—and highlights that the NRL’s power to approve player registrations can carry both reputational and legal consequences.