Israel Folau's code-hopping days are over.
The dual international happily declared "now I feel like I'm a rugby player" after signing a three-year flexible contract that will allow him to earn almost $2 million per year over the term of the agreement by playing two seasons in Japan and topping up a seven figure-per-season deal with the Australian Rugby Union with Test match bonuses and third party arrangements.
The deal, which will see Folau remain a Wallaby and Waratah until the end of 2018, effectively snuffs out any hope of a return to the NRL, the competition that developed Folau into a prodigious teenage State of Origin debutant in 2008 only to see him slip through their fingers and into rugby four years later, following a middling two seasons in the AFL.
Folau paid tribute to the code in which he made his name on Wednesday, but said he happily considered himself a rugby player after three seasons with the Waratahs.
"I still love the game [of rugby league] and I still watch it, but I think this is the best decision for me at this time in my career. I really enjoyed my time playing rugby league and there's a lot of things I learnt on and off the field. Most of my leadership qualities I've learnt over the years have been from those years that I played rugby league," he said.
"I think now I feel like I'm a rugby player. In my first year in the game I was a little bit nervous about how the public would take me in and embrace me, or what they'd see me as. But I feel within myself that I'm comfortable in the game. It's my third year now and I look forward to building on that a lot more as a player."
It is the longest the 26-year-old has spent with any one club after putting in two-year stints with the Storm and Broncos in the NRL and a short spell with AFL newcomers the Giants in 2012.
While Folau maintains that he seriously looked at offers to go back to the NRL, there is a keen sense that rugby won the race for his affections some time ago. Wallabies coach Michael Cheika was a large part of that, having recruited Folau to the Waratahs on a one-year deal in 2013 and retained him for a further two despite keen interest from rugby league. This time around, Folau made his intentions known early. The rest was detail.
"First and foremost on a personal note I want to make sure I reach my full potential," he said.
"Second of all I've been embraced by the rugby community with open arms, it's been overwhelming for me and something you want to leave behind for the upcoming kids who play the game, so you can look back when you retire and see that you've left something behind for the game that helps young kids come through. There's a big desire in my heart to want to do that."
It was rugby's global reach that made it impossible for the NRL - armed with Dave Smith's cash-stuffed "war chest" - to compete with the ARU.
Folau will link up with Japanese Top League club NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes for two non-consecutive seasons over the next three years.
With the squeaky-clean image so in demand among the corporation-owned Japanese clubs, it is believed the 29-Test Wallaby could command an estimated $900,000 or more per season for his services, while the combined ARU-Waratahs package is believed to be worth more than $1 million per season with third-party agreements in-built. Folau also stands to collect an estimated $400,000 in Test match payments over the three seasons, assuming he went to Japan after the World Cup and missed an end-of-year spring tour in one of the other three years.
The challenge for the Wallabies and Waratahs will be keeping their expensive marquee star's body and mind in peak condition as he cycles through a World Cup, three more Super Rugby seasons, three gruelling Test seasons and two stints in Japan.
"I'm not too worried about it, speaking to the Waratahs and Wallabies my welfare is the number one factor but I also know how my body operates as well, so we're going to have to try to balance things out," he said.
"It is a lot of work but I'm confident that my body will come through as long as I make sure there's a good balance."
This article was updated to clarify that Israel Folau signed with Japanese club NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes.
