IT HAS been a highlight of the centenary season and will be one of Melbourne's biggest weapons in Sunday's grand final, but centre Israel Folau believes he is being illegally prevented from repeating his State of Origin leap.

Folau said this week he feels he is being failed by referees in his attempts to jump for bombs, with opponents targeting the tactic - and its greatest proponent.

"They've been trying to stop me getting up and competing for the ball," Folau said. "Players are just coming straight for me and trying to block me off."

Asked if he felt they were doing so illegally, Folau said: "A few times players have just been not looking at the ball and coming straight for me. It's up to the ref to call that."

But referees' boss Robert Finch defended the officials, saying he had not seen Folau illegally impeded once since his AFL-style leap in Queensland's victory over NSW in Origin III. Finch encouraged defenders to keep doing what they have been doing.

"If I was defending against him, I'd be doing exactly that," Finch said. "I wouldn't be giving him carte blanche. That's his opinion, but we've never noticed anything untoward.

"Players are allowed to block as long as they get to the position correctly and in time. If they're running back towards the footy, they don't have to get out of his way. [Melbourne coach] Craig Bellamy hasn't mentioned anything to me about this."

Folau, though, said he had spoken himself with Bellamy about his bomb blues. "I've spoken to Craig about it and we've tried to work different things out to try and avoid it," he said. "I'll have to think about something this week.

"I've just got to try and figure something out, work around it."

Folau said he had been through "one hell of a year" following his stunning success in his first NRL season in 2007, which netted him a premiership and the highest representative honours.

"It's definitely been tougher than the first year," he said. "Teams have been looking at me and targeting me a bit more, but I'm still pretty happy with how the year's turned out.

"A few people earlier in the year mentioned about second-year syndrome, especially being rookie [of the year], but I just tried not to let that get into my head. It's been one hell of a year for myself in terms of the challenges, but I've enjoyed it all. I'll try and make this big game the best that I can. It's going to be one hell of a game."

Still, the 19-year-old, who will play his last game for Melbourne on Sunday after signing with Brisbane, said he would change one thing from last year - his approach to the decider.

"I know what to expect this time," he said. "Especially from what happened last year. I'm a bit more relaxed and excited about this year than I was last year.

"I was a bit more tense last year, thinking about the game earlier during the week. I was nervous as well. This week I'm going to soak it up and try and make it a little bit more relaxed - think about the game later on during the week. I just want to enjoy it more, especially being my last game for Melbourne - try and make it the best game I can."