'I've changed lives': How Kikau is building an NRL pathway in Fiji

Viliame Kikau grew up playing with a bottle as a ball and didn’t have boots, so the Bati captain knew what it meant for two Fijian schoolboys when he announced they would join him at Canterbury.

“For myself, it was just a feeling of happiness when I spoke to them and to their parents,” Kikau said.

“They were so emotional, and I was a bit emotional too because I remember when my parents were speaking to the Cowboys recruitment manager that came to Fiji, and my parents couldn’t believe it.”

As he prepares to return from a pec injury against the Dolphins, Kikau revealed how the four months out enabled him to reflect on the life changing impact of the game and inspired him to ensure other Fijians received similar opportunities.

After speaking with Canterbury GM of football Phil Gould about his ambition, the club helped Kikau establish an academy in Fiji and he has already identified two young boys to join the Bulldogs’ pathways program.

“There are so many talented kids back home, it's just the opportunities that we are lacking at the moment, so I touched base with the guys here about the academy,” Kikau told NRL.com.

“I spoke with Gus Gould and Gus has really helped me. I'm so grateful for the club helping to set up the academy.

"It is just an opportunity to make it a bit easier for kids to come over and pursue their dream of playing rugby league here in Australia.

“I just hope they make a name for themselves when they get here and support their families back home.”

Kikau moved to North Queensland when he was 19-years-of-age, and it was an eye-opening experience for the strike second-rower.

In the nine years since, Kikau has won back-to-back premierships with Penrith and captained Fiji at last year’s World Cup, but he has never forgotten where he came from.

“Just speaking from my own experience, it's been the best thing ever,” Kikau said. “I've changed a lot of lives and I know that I've definitely changed the lives of my family. They are always grateful for that.

“Coming over here and seeing how crazy it is for the kids, and how fortunate they are with the facilities and everything that they get, has made me think back to what it was like where I came from.

“It was hard just to get a footy at training, so this has all been part of me trying to give back and support all of the younger generations.

“We usually played with bottles of Coke and filled them up with grass or dirt just to put a bit of weight in it, and we would pretty much use that as a footy.

“In school, we’d get one or two footies to train with and you had to keep those for the rest of the year.

“When I go back home now, I try to make sure I take as much stuff as I can, like boots or whatever I can get - footies, cones … they go a long way to helping.”

The 28-year-old has been nominated for the 2023 Ken Stephens Medal but he insists his work in Fiji is to benefit the likes of Samuela Ratavola and George Satakala – the two players signed by the Bulldogs.

However, the establishment of the Kikau Academy also helped him to cope with the pec injury sustained in round four against the Warriors after joining Canterbury this season as the club’s star recruit.

As a member of the Bulldogs' leadership group, Kikau was tasked with leading the way on club culture, and he set himself high expectations.

“I’ve treated this injury as a blessing in disguise for me,” Kikau said. “I came here as one of the main signings and I had the mindset of trying to be the big name.

“I really wanted to show that level of how I train, how I play and how I prepare myself but I was thinking more about stuff I couldn't control so when I got injured it just sort of put into perspective what really matters the most.

“The injury is one thing, but I've got my family, I've got a good life, I still get to train and I still get to do what I love. I have been doing a bit of reading, a bit of journaling too and just been writing down stuff that I am grateful for."

A veteran of 16 Tests for Fiji, Kikau said he never imaged he would play one let alone become the Bati captain.

“I have a lot of emotions when I put on that Fiji jersey," Kikau said.

"I just always think about all the struggles I have gone through, my parents trying to get me a pair of boots and trying to do everything to support my footy, so to be where I am now is something I am just very proud of."

He now hopes the Kikau Academy will produce talent for the Bati and believes that by developing their skills earlier more young Fiji players will get the opportunity to play in the NRL.  

“I have told the trainers just to focus on the basic stuff because I think that’s what we are lacking back home," Kikau said.

"We didn't really get coaching; we just had school teachers, who are not coaches but they just taught us what they knew.

“We didn't really get to be taught the basic stuff of catching the ball, passing the ball, playing the ball and all that stuff, so that's probably one of the main things that we're trying to push for them to learn in the academy.

"This is just going to create more opportunities because we want to get a lot more Maiko Sivos and Mikaele Ravalawas in the NRL and this can be a good start for them."