The Kaiviti Silktails have arrived in Australia for a month-long training camp and two trial matches on the Gold Coast to prepare them for the NSWRL’s 2025 Jersey Flegg Cup (Under 21s) competition.
The first trial will be against a Queensland-Samoa side tomorrow (15 February) in Tugun.
New head coach Timoci Duve has had his squad of 36 players in pre-season training since mid-November at their headquarters in Lautoka, Fiji. (Pictured above is L-R Sevanaia Tovuto, Vilisasari Bainivalu, Tevita Matewai)
“This is our 12th week and we’re very excited for what will come of all that,” Duve told nswrl.com.au
The Silktails failed to win a match in 2024 but five losses were by six points or less. Duve said his players had used last year’s disappointments as motivation for 2025.
“Yes, we didn’t win a game last year but we benefitted from what we went through then and we’re aiming to be better than those performances,” he said.
“We gained a lot of experience last year and we put preparations in place to improve because of those learnings.
“Remembering it was out first year in the Jersey Flegg. Now the challenge is to be better,” Duve said, adding that 22 of his squad played last season.
“We went back to the fundamentals. We set out the structures on how we want to play and worked our way up from there. We defined what we lacked last year and we’ve acted on those.”
The Silktails will be based on the Gold Coast for four weeks. A second trial will be held on Saturday 23 February against the Dolphins’ Queensland Cup side.
The club has a strong connection to Kaiviti Silktails Chair Petero Civoniceva, who played his junior football there before joining the Broncos where he won three NRL premierships.
Then the Silktails will come to Sydney for Round One of the Jersey Flegg Cup against the Parramatta Eels at Hammondville Oval.
The Kaiviti Silktails celebrate their fifth anniversary this year with Civoniceva telling fans the milestone is something to be proud of. They joined the NSWRL in 2020 playing in the Leagues Clubs Australia Ron Massey Cup for three years, before focusing on being a development club and joining the Under 21s competition.
“We look back on where we have come from, the success in becoming established in 2020, the challenges that we have endured – especially COVID and relocating to Australia - and losing our beloved team manager Jacquie Shannon (after passing away in 2022),” Civoniceva said in a statement.
“It has well and truly tested our resolve. But in saying that, to be here where we are in 2025, I couldn’t be more proud of our Board, staff and players.”
The Silktails are proudly supported by the Australian Government through PacificAus Sports. PacificAus Sports creates opportunities for Australian and Pacific athletes to learn, train, play, and grow together.
