Family of Penrith superstar Viliame Kikau is stuck in Fiji for the NRL grand final
COVID-19 travel restrictions have robbed Viliame Kikau’s family of the chance to be at ANZ Stadium but that won’t stop his mum from transforming their tiny Fijian village into a grand final hub.
NRL
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Penrith coach Ivan Cleary will impart his final words of inspiration in the dressing room before Sunday’s NRL grand final but the voice in Viliame Kikau’s head as he runs on to the field will be that of his mother, Lily.
Stuck in the tiny village of Bau in Fiji due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, the closest Lily and her family will get to ANZ Stadium is a video call from Kikau on Sunday.
“He promised he would call me on Sunday right before he plays,” Lily told The Daily Telegraph from Fiji. “I’ll just say, ‘Vili, use your talent and play as good as you can and we wish you all the best in your game’.
“We are really sad because of this pandemic, if it wasn’t for the pandemic we would be with him on Sunday. I am very upset about it. But we are so proud of him and so overwhelmed.”
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Kikau, a self-confessed mummy’s boy, is just as gutted about not having his biggest supporter in the stands. But the barnstorming Panthers backrower knows Lily, along with the other 100 or so people in Bau, will be stalking his every move on the turf of ANZ Stadium on Sunday night – from his parent’s house.
With the Fijian government increasing the size of social gatherings to 100 people, the Kikau residence will be transformed into a grand final hub, where the big game will be shown on the family’s property.
“Everyone will be cheering on, it’s going to be big,” Kikau said. “They have been watching every week. We have Sky Pacific, which is like Foxtel, over there. My mum and dad have it. On Sunday, mum reckons she is going to try and put a projector on for everyone to see. We have a big porch and space so hopefully a lot will be able to watch.”
Lily, her husband Ratu Ralulu and son Jope, already sporting their ‘Team Kikau’ T-shirts, spent all of Friday decorating their house with the black, red, yellow and green of the Panthers.
“Some of his other relatives will be having their own party and we will have one too at home with some of our neighbours, who said they would like to come over, and we’ll watch the game together,” Lily said.
“We have decorated the house just so we can feel the atmosphere like in Sydney. We have streamers, and some jerseys and we have stickers to put on our cars.”
At 195 centimetres and 118 kilograms, Kikau’s imposing frame has earned him a reputation for being one of the most damaging ball-runners in rugby league. But that is not how Lily remembers her ‘baby boy’, who is the youngest of seven children.
“I know he is big but he was just a normal size baby,” Lily said. “It was a normal birth with him. He was not really that big. He was a skinny boy. But wow, when we see him now, he is ever so huge. We have to look up at him, he is so tall.”
Despite being the ‘skinny kid’ all it took was a single game of rugby league, that happened to be the first game he ever played, for Kikau to be scouted by the North Queensland Cowboys.
The eagle eye of a Cowboys recruitment officer spotted Kikau and rather than offer him a second trial, which was normal procedure, he signed the 18-year-old then and there in 2013.
“Oh I was so worried and sad he was leaving us,” Lily said. “You know, I did everything for him. I still washed his clothes and cooked. I was scared about him being alone in Australia.”
After two years in Townsville, Kikau was poached by Penrith in 2016 and his rise to Sunday’s grand final began.
And as every tackle bust and line break propelled Kikau’s NRL career forward, his family’s life improved with every bit of success he experienced. Every week, Kikau ensures his mother has enough money to buy groceries and pay the bills.
“We have seven children and it was quite a struggle bringing them up,” she said. “My husband was the sole breadwinner but he got sick and couldn’t work any more. We had a lot of struggles to pay some things like school and clothes but we thank God for how things have changed, we just witness what God made for our family.”
And while Kikau will carry his mother in his heart and his mind on Sunday, the 25-year-old will also carry the name of his brother Jope on his wrist.
Jope is wheelchair-bound after falling ill with epidural sepsis 10 years ago, while on a rugby scholarship with Hamilton Boys High School in New Zealand.
“When I got home back to Fiji, I saw Vili had a picture of me when I was in hospital and a picture of Sonny Bill Williams in his drawer,” Jope said. “We don’t talk about feelings when we are together, but I felt emotional when I saw it. I know deep down he is always thinking about me, wherever he is.”
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Jope, who was a rugby prodigy himself before being struck down with the rare infection, is yet to see Kikau play live in the NRL.
Like Lily, Jope is devastated that the coronavirus has robbed him of the chance to be in Sydney for the grand final.
“It has really affected us, that we can’t be there,” he said. “All we wish is that we could be there with him. But we are so proud to see him in a grand final from where he started off, our humble beginnings.”