THE Kaiviti Silktails rugby league team management is working overtime to prepare the players well for the 2021 Ron Massey Cup competition in Australia.
The team left Fiji for Australia last week to compete in the annual competition.
Fiji joined the tournament last March and made an impact by thrashing Australia’s Windsor Wolves 40-16.
Now with the team, made of local-based players, to be based in Australia for the next seven months, team management is tying all loose ends to ensure the players play to expectation.
It has a pastor and counsellor, Suliasi Cakautabu, the Coastal Roos team manager, who has been tasked with motivating the players for the task at hand.
“Suli has been really good. He sort of taken on the pastoral role within the organisation,” team head coach and former Fiji Bati skipper Wes Naiqama said.
“There was a big focus for us, especially for the organisation going over to Australia for seven months.
“Players’ welfare is a big issue because these boys haven’t been away from home for that long, let alone in another country.
“So having a talatala (pastor) there will bring the boys together and keep us all grounded with devotion.
“There is a person to talk to, there’s a counsellor and a pastor.
“He’s got probably a bigger role than I do.
“He is going to be very important in the next seven to eight months. We’ve got a couple of boys from Sigatoka who have already played under Suli and who know Suli, so he is been great for us.”
The Kaiviti Silktails are the new boys on the NSW Ron Massey Cup competition and they have put their collective best foot forward before travelling to Australia.
The inclusion of Fiji in the competition is to expose Fijian talents and improve the standard of the sport in Fiji.
