Star netballer Nat Medhurst calls out Folau defence of social media post

Star netballer Nat Medhurst has called out Israel Folau for defending his right to "incite hate" on religious freedom grounds as the former rugby star ramped up his legal case against his sacking by Rugby Australia.

Folau got his legal challenge under way today, arriving at Fair Work Australia with his legal team this morning for a conciliation with Rugby Australia.

It follows 24 hours of renewed publicity around the case, with Folau appearing on Sky News for a lengthy TV interview with Alan Jones and Peta Credlin, while also publishing a YouTube video and making a statement on Instagram.

The netball community has been dragged into the story due to Folau's wife Maria, a legendary New Zealand netballer who plies her trade with the Adelaide Thunderbirds in Suncorp Super Netball.

After sharing her husband's GoFundMe page, Maria copped backlash from the likes of netball legend Liz Ellis, who criticised the sport's response to a show of "support for homophobia".

“There is no room for homophobia in our game … anyone who is seen to support or endorse homophobia is not welcome,” Ellis said.

“As much as I love watching Maria Folau play netball, I do not want my sport endorsing the views of her husband.”

Folau's latest Instagram post reiterates his desire to receive an apology from Rugby Australia for stopping him from "peacefully expressing my religious beliefs".

Wide World of Sports shared an excerpt from the post on Twitter, prompting an outraged response from Medhurst.

"Call me odd, but religious &/or political views or even this so called "freedom of speech" does NOT give people a free pass to express views that incite hate or discriminate. Full stop!"

Medhurst, who has played 86 games for Australia, is a senior player for the Collingwood Magpies in the Super Netball competition.

Her post comes days after major sponsor of Netball NZ, ANZ Bank, released a statement distancing itself from the Folaus' views.

Netball South Australia also made a public comment on the issue declaring it harsh to suggest that Mrs Folau should be punished for supporting her husband.

“We also believe in fairness and perspective,” Netball South Australia chief executive Bronwyn Klei said.

“Like millions of other people across Australia, Maria Folau uses her personal social media platform to share her life and beliefs with her family, friends and fans. This week, she shared her husband’s controversial GoFundMe post.

“While Netball SA in no way endorses the reposting, we do not believe Maria has contravened our social media policy.”