The Kaiviti Silktails rugby league team are looking forward to reuniting with loved ones after Covid-19 brought their season to an abrupt end.
The Kaiviti Silktails managed 13 games in 2021. Photo: Facebook/Kaiviti Silktails
The Fijian side relocated to Australia six months ago to compete in the Ron Massey Cup, after last year's competition was cancelled because of the pandemic.
The Silktails players flew home to Fiji on Wednesday, a day after it was confirmed the 2021 season had been abandoned in reponse to the outbreak of the Delta variant in Greater Sydney.
Silktails CEO Stephen Driscoll said the club was in constant communication with the New South Wales Rugby League.
The Kaiviti Silktails season came to sudden halt. Photo: Facebook/Kaiviti Silktails
"We were probably ahead of everybody else in terms of preparing to exit and we worked closely with the league on that because it was obviously a pretty big logistical exercise to get that done," he said.
"We were probably aware a week and a half before it was trending that way and there was a flight leaving Wednesday. The announcement came Tuesday morning so by the time that was announced we were ready to jump on that flight...rather than sit around and wait for another one we got ahead of the game there and we were able to leave pretty much the day after it was announced."
The Silktails squad departed Fiji for Australia on 10 February and have sacrificed a lot over the past six months, Driscoll said.
"We've had four or five guys that have missed the birth of their children this year, so they're obviously really excited to go home. We've obviously had a couple of family members pass as well so all that has added to the complexity of relocation but they're all really excited to go back."
The Silktails traded six wins, six defeats and a draw in 13 matches before the Ron Massey Cup was suspended at the start of July and believe they still achieved a lot in an abbreviated campaign.
"We were priming ourselves for a big run at the finals," Driscoll explained.
"We obviously got a lot more done this year compared to 2020 when it was one game...there's some unfinished business there but at the same time we're trying to take the positives out of it.
"We were able to achieve a lot, we learned a lot about ourselves as a club and as a team and for individuals there's still be some really good individual milestones."
The Silktails have formed a strong relationship with the Sydney Roosters NRL team, who have snapped up star winger Vuate Karawalevu on a full-time deal.
A number of other Silktails players were given the chance to impress at a higher level.
"Vuate will go fulltime with the Roosters next year when he returns, which is a wonderful outcome for him and also for the club and the programme," Driscoll said.
"We has our captain Peni Tagituimua played four games with the (North Sydney) Bears. A host of guys from our squad also trained with them and and we had a host of guys that are under 21 train and play in the Roosters pathway programme as well."
Kaiviti Silktails CEO Stephen Driscoll. Photo: Facebook/Kaiviti Silktails
He said part of the reason the Silktails were established was to create a pathway for Fijian rugby league players into professional clubs.
"We're going to go one step further next year and we're going to add six or seven standouts from the secondary schools competition to our squad next year and prior to the World Cup being (postponed) we had 13 guys named in the extended World Cup squad...we're about playing for the Silktails first but when we do well in this programme it puts our players in the shop window for other opportunities."
Driscoll and Silktails head coach Wes Naiqama have remained in Austraila, while the Fijian based players and management staff are currently undergoing 14 days of managed isolation in Nadi.
The players' contracts for the 2021 season will finish at the end of this month and everyone had indicated they were keen to return to Australia in November for pre-season ahead of the 2022 campaign.
"Their indicatiojns is they all want to come back. There's a few that things may change along the way. It was bittersweet but when they left at the airport they were all really excited about going home to see family.
"They've got two weeks there (in quarantine) then they'll have about 10 weeks on the ground, then they'll have another two weeks of that if the current situation stays the way it is, so they've got about 28 days of quarantine in this 12 week period between now and when they return back."
The Kaiviti Silktails Board will meet next week to review this season and begin preparations for 2022.
