Raiders take up option on Masivesi Dakuwaqa for 2018

[greeneyed]

Canberra Raiders sign Fijian Union 7s player Masivesi Dakuwaqa

The Canberra Raiders have signed 23 year old Fijian Union 7s player Masivesi Dakuwaqa. He was part of the Fiji 7s team that won a Gold Medal at the Rio Olympics. He arrived in the national capital today and will start training tomorrow.

"I arrived in Sydney on Friday and will fly to Canberra on Sunday" Dakuwaqa told the Fiji Sun. "I will have a medical check on Monday and will also start training. I'm looking forward and excited on this new journey."

Read more: http://fijisun.com.fj/2017/05/07/league-switch/

PROFILE

Masivesi Dakuwaqa was born and raised in the Nadi District, Fiji. He started playing rugby league aged 16 before switching to rugby union when he had not turned 20. He made his Fiji Union 7s debut in 2016 in Las Vegas. He was the 13th man in the Fiji Union 7s Olympic team, and played in the final against Great Britain after being called into the team at the semi final stage due to injury of another player. His gold medal was stolen from his home in September last year. He missed the Wellington and Sydney Union 7s earlier this year after suffering an injury in the Capetown Union 7s.

He is known as "Sharkie". In Fijian mythology the name Dakuwaqa refers to a Shark God, a protector of the reefs and of fishermen.

At a young age, in his village of Cakova in Moala, Lau, an accident with a rubber band stretched too hard had hit his eye, an incident that led to him having blurred vision on his left eye for the rest of his life. He says it seems normal to hm now and poses no challenge when he plays.

Date of birth 14 February 1994 (age 23)
Place of birth Nadi, Fiji
Height 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight 105 kg (231 lb)

[CJ42]

Wow, I like the sound of this.


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[-TW-]

These guys are guns, great signing

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[Raiders74156]

Some of his highlights. Seems like a bit of an odd signing, He looks like a monster though

[Ruben Daley]

Why odd?

Big, fast young bloke with a step sounds good to me.

[Nadruku]

Giddy up!!

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[Nadruku]

Interesting...Five Fiji U18 team scouted

It was also confirmed by Fiji Secondary Schools Rugby League official Lai Corerega that five Fiji U18 players had been named by Raiders scouts.

This was after they played the Raiders Development team where they drew 32-32.

“After our first game of the Australia tour, officials from Canberra Raiders wanted five of our players.

“We will disclose the names once all the paper work has been done. We will have talks with their parents and getting all documents in order,” Corerega said

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[Nadruku]

Keep up the good work Mulholland. Thinking outside the square!!

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[greeneyed]

Keep up the good work Mulholland. Thinking outside the square!!

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Yes it is, he's been good for the club IMO. The junior scholarships story came out a bit over a week ago when the junior Fiji team came to Canberra to play: viewtopic.php?p=1503556#p1503556

[greeneyed]

We'll have to change that nickname... Sharkie just won't work here!

[VictorTheViking]

Could be our radradra or could be a flop...he looks like a monster though

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[Nadruku]

Oh didn't see the scholarship article. Awesome news

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[greeneyed]

I've updated the profile in the original post. Interestingly he has blurred vision in one eye.

[Raiders Lim!]

Canberra Raiders sign Fijian Union 7s player Masivesi Dakuwaqa

He is known as "Sharkie". In Fijian mythology the name Dakuwaqa refers to a Shark God, a protector of the reefs and of fishermen.

Lake Burley Griffin has a new champion!

[Matt]

Looks like a perfect replacement for Eddy. He does everything we hoped Eddy would.

[CJR]

Looks like a good signing but will he even play

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[BadnMean]

Could be good. I still have him down as depth though. Hopefully he learns the game/tackling and can be a real competition for centre/wing/utility bench next year.
Not sure how long we have Baptiste for but if Baptiste takes up a starting offer or his Achilles is stuffed, this bloke running from dummy half plus has the size to cover forwards and obviously game for outside backs could be a good option.

Highlights reel shows him beat the same South African arm grabber in 2 tries and step past an injured English player. Hat trick vs Portugal would be impressive in soccer. So I'm not completely sold by that.

[edwahu]

Keep up the good work Mulholland. Thinking outside the square!!

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Yes it is, he's been good for the club IMO. The junior scholarships story came out a bit over a week ago when the junior Fiji team came to Canberra to play: viewtopic.php?p=1503556#p1503556

I don't mind these signings but his first grade recruitment hasn't gone well.

[FROG]

Tapine? Paulo? Neither good signings? I beg to differ

[Green eyed Mick]

Taylor, Turner and Lui are IMO three costly recruitment decisions. Collectively they would be on quite a bit of coin and none of them have been reliable selection options so far this year.

Without good quality, reliable depth you don't have serious competition for spots.

[Ginga]

Taylor, Turner and Lui are IMO three costly recruitment decisions. Collectively they would be on quite a bit of coin and none of them have been reliable selection options so far this year.

Super League signings have always proven a 50/50 gamble IMO and Taylor I thought was more Ricky's signing. Lui is hard to defend but I'd suggest no one signed him to be anything more than cover which he's failed to provide.

[julian87]

Taylor, Turner and Lui are IMO three costly recruitment decisions. Collectively they would be on quite a bit of coin and none of them have been reliable selection options so far this year.

Without good quality, reliable depth you don't have serious competition for spots.

They're deadset all on minimum wage.

[greeneyed]

Taylor, Turner and Lui are IMO three costly recruitment decisions. Collectively they would be on quite a bit of coin and none of them have been reliable selection options so far this year.

Without good quality, reliable depth you don't have serious competition for spots.

They are not on big dollars.

[Raiders666]

there is no denying our recruitment for 2017 so far has been horrible

[kiwi raider]

Taylor, Turner and Lui are IMO three costly recruitment decisions. Collectively they would be on quite a bit of coin and none of them have been reliable selection options so far this year.

Without good quality, reliable depth you don't have serious competition for spots.

They're deadset all on minimum wage.

agree, there were reports when we signed turner that we got him basically on a reserve grade contract, Taylor might be on a bit more than min wage but he could yet prove to be a very good signing especially with the lack of metres coming out of our pack at the moment and Lui is a 6th.7th choice prop, and he's playing exactly like one

Love these Fijian signings, could prove to be a real astute buy and wouldn't cost us much, he's played league before is big quick and has some footwork, at worst he should be good depth

[edwahu]

Tapine? Paulo? Neither good signings? I beg to differ

I'd thought we had chased them before he came on board but maybe not. They are good signings for sure. Hopefully he can get more at that level, we can't have another year of recruiting like this one.

[greeneyed]

There's no doubt, the depth signings this year have not proven to be actual depth - as they haven't been able to do a job in first grade for while - at least not so far. I'd still say the Raiders are well out in front with the recruitment decisions of the last few years.

[CJ42]

Tapine? Paulo? Neither good signings? I beg to differ

I'd thought we had chased them before he came on board but maybe not. They are good signings for sure. Hopefully he can get more at that level, we can't have another year of recruiting like this one.

I thought tapine was most definitely his signing from his time at the knights, but maybe I was thinking Crawley

[Green eyed Mick]

What does money have to do with anything? If we were paying Turner a pie and a can of coke it would still be too much because he's clearly never going to play FG unless we literally have no other option.

BTW I am not knocking the decision to sign him or Lui. They were reasonable decisions at the time. My point was simply a counterpoint to the suggestion that all our recruitment has been spot on.

[dubby]

Looks like a perfect replacement for Eddy. He does everything we hoped Eddy would.

Let's hope so. 7 a side rugby isn't nrl

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[Green_Hammock]

His gold medal was stolen? ☹

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[dubby]

There's no doubt, the depth signings this year have not proven to be actual depth - as they haven't been able to do a job in first grade for while - at least not so far. I'd still say the Raiders are well out in front with the recruitment decisions of the last few years.

I disagree. Releasing Brenko, Vaughan and fensom to sign an injury plagued Taylor, Lui, Makatoa, Aiono has been dreadful

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[julian87]

There's no doubt, the depth signings this year have not proven to be actual depth - as they haven't been able to do a job in first grade for while - at least not so far. I'd still say the Raiders are well out in front with the recruitment decisions of the last few years.

I disagree. Releasing Brenko, Vaughan and fensom to sign an injury plagued Taylor, Lui, Makatoa, Aiono has been dreadful

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You realize that literally saved us over 600k so we can retain our guns?

[dubby]

Sauce?

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[dubby]

Sorry Jules. I get your point but it's pure speculation.

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