IF you cannot put in the hard yards to earn a spot in the Fiji Airways Fiji men’s 7s side, step aside for someone who can.
That’s the stern direction from its head coach Osea Kolinisau in emphasising how he had no tolerance for complacency in the national team.
The message he delivered also kept established players in check of how their retention in the team was driven by their performance and their will to make it into the final squad and not by their long stint in it.
“I wanted everybody to compete. I don’t want complacency in the squad, where people that are in the squad for a long time think ‘I’ll always get picked’,” Kolinisau told the media at Albert Park in Suva on Tuesday.
The head coach shared these sentiments when asked on new inclusions in the extended squad.
“I want the boys to compete, that’s why now we have three to four players competing for a position and that’s something we want in the players, and we want to choose the best in the competition,” he explained.
Selection phases have included tough competition in camp amongst players, and training sessions indicate how each one is fighting to secure a spot for the Singapore 7s and subsequent stops in the HSBC SVNS Series this year.
The team returned to camp on Sunday to begin a full week of training as they prepare for the Singapore leg at the end of this month.
With this in mind, Kolinisau is also keeping a watchful eye on the players as the clock ticks to making his final selection.
The national squad will also be announced a week after the McDonald’s Coral Coast Fiji 7s which takes place next week.
