Racing After Sivo
French Top 14 rugby union club joins race to secure Fijian flyer’s services
Thursday 11 March 2021 | 12:43
Maika Sivo after training with the Parramatta Eels at the Bankwest Stadium in Sydney on February 11, 2021. Photo: Eels
Big money is involved in the hunt of Fijian-born Parramatta Eels winger, Maika Sivo.
This was after Top 14 club Racing 92 joined the race to secure Sivo’s services.
The Eels kick-start their campaign against the Broncos on Friday night but there is uncertainty over the future of several players, including Sivo and fellow winger Blake Ferguson.
Turning 28 this year, fan favourite Sivo knows he needs to cash in on his next deal.
Sources close to negotiations revealed Racing 92, the Paris-based Top 14 club where former Wallabies star Kurtley Beale now plies his trade, were prepared to table a two-year deal worth of FJ$945,000 a season.
Sivo played rugby most of his career and was a Fijian junior representative capable of playing anywhere in the back line.
He has made it clear his heart lies with Parramatta, but he would need to settle for far less money to remain in the NRL.
Sivo has scored 37 tries in just 46 NRL games and often been compared to his fellow Fijian countryman Semi Radradra, who won over the Eels faithful before chasing the dollars overseas in the rival code.
Sivo is also mindful that if he can stay in Australia one more year, he can apply for permanent residency.
“I have to weigh up where I’ll be happy and the people I have around me,” Sivo told Rugby Heaven.
“The plan is to stay here, I love this club, the coaching staff and all these guys. We’ll see how it goes.”
Ferguson, who is in the final year of his three-year FJ$2.4m deal, was not as certain about his future and, given he was awaiting the arrival of a third child next month, he had to weigh up “loyalty and being a provider”.
He even fronted Eels coach Brad Arthur when reports surfaced he was unwanted beyond this year.
“I just need to work hard and show them I’m capable of being the best winger,” Ferguson said.
“I asked him (Arthur) about (whether I was no longer wanted), I went to him and he said, ‘No, that’s not true’, so we’ll just go with that. I’m not worried.
“It’s a results-driven business, at the end of the day they want to see results and if you’re not doing it on the field, players have to move on. That’s how rugby league has been built.”
Edited by Karalaini Waqanidrola
Feedback: leonec@fijisun.com.fj
