Early Life
Folau was born in Minto, New South Wales to parents of Tongan descent. He attended Lurnea Public School and Westfield Sports High School before his family moved to Brisbane in 2004. In Brisbane Folau attended Marsden State High School from where he was selected for the Queensland Schoolboys squad in the Australian Under-15 Championships. Folau also played several seasons of junior rugby league at the Goodna Eagles in Goodna.
At the Australian championships, Folau was spotted by a Melbourne Storm scout and was invited to play his junior football with the Storm's feeder club at the time, Queensland Cup team, the Norths Devils. He won a premiership while playing with Norths and became the first player to represent Queensland Under-19's while still only 16 years old. From playing with the Queensland Schoolboys and the Devils, in 2006, while in year 12 at Marsden State High School where his classmates were Chris Sandow and Antonio Winterstein, Folau was selected to play in the Australian Schoolboys squad that toured Wales, England and France. Folau was strong representing Australia and at the end of the tour was awarded the Australian Secondary School Rugby Leagues (ASSRL) Award for the best back of the tournament. Playing years above his age gave Melbourne the confidence to give Folau an opportunity in the NRL.
Read more about this topic: Israel Folau
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