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Peter FitzSimons analyses Israel Folau's $14m Wallabies captaincy claim - 'It just gets ever more absurd'

November 28, 2019

The Aussie media personality said he's "worried" if Folau "actually believes" allowing gay marriage in Australia led to the recent bushfires.

Peter FitzSimons believes Israel Folau's claims he could've captained the Wallabies to World Cup glory are as absurd as his "worrying" beliefs about the connections between gay marriage and bushfires.

FitzSimons analysed Folau's latest claims and the increased $14 million he's seeking from Rugby Australia on TVNZ1's Breakfast this morning.

"It just gets ever more absurd," FitzSimons said.

"From a distance, I just thought, 'What? Captain?'... but Michael Cheika, who was the Wallabies coach of course, he moved through seven vice captains.

"Now, if Michael Cheika had seven vice captains and Israel Folau wasn't one of them, I think by definition he was a very unlikely man to be captain."

Folau originally sought $10 million from Rugby Australia for the termination of his contract earlier this year due to a breach of their code of conduct, but he has since upped that figure to $14 million as he believed he could've captained a "trophy-winning Wallabies" side. 

FitzSimons said there's multiple reasons that claim is wrong.

"The last time Australian rugby had a fullback as captain was in 1980. It was Paul McLean, it was one Test, and after that the theory in Australian rugby was that fullback was too far from the main game to be the captain, so the tradition in Australian rugby is we don't have a fullback as a captain.

"Beyond that, Israel Folau was highly regarded as a player but he was never close to being a vice captain, let alone captain."

FitzSimons said he informed a current, unnamed Wallaby of Folau's captaincy claim yesterday and the player "burst into laughter" once they managed to understand what he was trying to say.

"I find the claim absolutely absurd."

The former Wallaby said he also had issues with Folau's other reason for being in headlines recently after the former rugby star claimed Australia's recent fatal bushfires - which killed six people - were a result of the country legalising abortion and same-sex marriage.

"It doesn't have the closest grip on reality and I worry about that kind of stuff," FitzSimons said.

"If he actually believes that, then I respectfully submit his remaining friends need to sit him down, give him a hug and say, 'C'mon mate, we've got to get you some help here. This is not real.'"

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