Rugby league legend and Kaiviti Silktails chairman Petero Civoniceva has revealed his desire to one day have a Fiji franchise in the NRL as the competition continues to expand. ARLC chairman Peter V'landys has flagged in recent interviews' his desire for 20 teams to play in the NRL, with the Dolphins the latest edition. Fiji recently hosted a trial match between the Melbourne Storm and Newcastle Knights which has led to plans for the country to one day host a NRL premiership match. Civoniceva, who is an ambassador for Fiji Airways, was present at the trial match and described it as "fantastic" before indicating his hopes for more matches to be played there. "I think Fiji Airways gave a great promotion in terms of having league played in Fiji for the first time," he told Wide World of Sports. "... The way (both sides) they integrated into the community was really pleasing and left a lot of people wanting more so hopefully there's good signs for more rugby league to be played in Fiji. "I think definitely more trial matches and hopefully a (premiership) game, we've definitely got the ability to do that there in Fiji and I think the tourism market is so big, and sports tourism, maybe that goes hand in hand, so I think there's lots of potential to play more games in Fiji." The former Broncos and Panthers prop added there's potential for that NRL presence in the country to grow into a fully fledged side. "As development pathways grow and obviously our Silktails team keeps growing and maturing, our development program can hopefully one day lean into support of an NRL bid," he said. "I think Fiji's definitely got the talent there and you see that in world rugby with the amount of Fijians that are playing on the world stage. Eventually that opportunity would certainly mean more players crossing codes or obviously being part of a development pathway in the country to hopefully be a part of something like that." Fiji's lead up to an NRL bid in the future isn't an idea that's come up overnight.
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