GREG Inglis knows what teammate Israel Folau is going through at the moment. It was not long ago that the Melbourne Storm back-line star encountered a situation similar to that which has engulfed Folau.
Inglis, like Folau, burst onto the National Rugby League scene with his breathtaking running and skills, giving rise to predictions that he could develop into one of the greats.
After playing 13 games in 2005, Inglis left his imprint the following year when he made the Queensland and Australian sides.
He was 19 at the time and contracted to the Storm until the end of the 2009 season, but speculation was rife that rugby union was preparing to launch a bid for the prodigious talent, who played both codes at high school, when he became a free agent.
The Storm moved quickly and signed him to a significantly upgraded contract to the end of 2010.
So Inglis, who does have an escape clause allowing him to leave the Storm if coach Craig Bellamy does likewise, said he understood the predicament that his 18-year-old teammate was facing.
But the Storm five-eighth yesterday said he never wavered in his belief that his immediate future and development lay in Melbourne rather than seeking potential riches elsewhere.
"I didn't want to look anywhere else because I loved the culture down here, so I just stayed," Inglis said.
"I pretty much just wanted to focus on one thing and that was to play footy. The boys down here are great, the culture is great, it's family-oriented and it's got a good coach and a good team.
"Staying down in Melbourne, you're under wraps. There's AFL and soccer down here and we're pretty much just pushing our way through now … everyone's under wraps and nothing hardly gets said (bad) about Melbourne. It's helped me a lot. It's brought me a long way and made me mature quicker …"
Inglis, who declined to comment on an incident in Brisbane last month when he was caught up in a pub fight that the club declared he did not instigate, said the team would support Folau regardless of his decision.
The Storm has demanded that the matter be finalised before its round-one clash against the New Zealand Warriors on March 17.
"I can definitely see what Izzy's going through but at the end of the day, whatever he chooses, we'll back him," Inglis said. "… It's his decision and it depends on whether he wants to go or not. It's totally up to him. If he wants to go, good luck to him, but if he wants to stay, then it's even better for us."
Storm chief executive Brian Waldron, at the team's season launch yesterday, said the premier offered the best guarantee of success for Folau even though it could not match rival offers.
"Izzy will still be well rewarded if he stays with Melbourne but it's within the confines of what we have to manage," Waldron said.
Inglis also said his progress from off-season shoulder surgery had been put back after he aggravated the injury during wrestling drills, but he was still hoping to be back in the team by the third or fourth round.
"There's been a couple of setbacks that happened at training but other than that, it's all going swell," he said.
"It just put me back a few days or at least a week. I just went a bit crazy with wrestling out, so I just twinged it a bit."
■The NZ Warriors believe their recruit, former Brisbane Bronco Brent Tate, could be the ingredient the team needs to take it from making the finals to challenging for the NRL premiership.
"We were looking for a top-quality outside back and he (Tate) is that," Warriors coach Ivan Cleary said.
With AAP
