Call For A Statue Of Civoniceva

There is a call for Fiji-born Queensland State of Origin, Australian and Fijian in­ternational representative prop forward, Petero Civoniceva, along with another five wonders of the rugby league world, to be recog­nised with a statue.

The other five listed along Civ­oniceva for the bronzed memento are Preston Campbell, Matt Bowen, Kerry Boustead, Gene Miles and John Lang.

The National Rugby League web­site yesterday stated that the six wonders of the rugby league world must be recognised with a statue af­ter their impact on Brisbane, North Queensland and Gold Coast league.

“This would be roundly received within their communities given their contributions on and off the field,” the NRL statement said.

Meanwhile, statues of legends rec­ognising the on-field achievements of five Queensland State of Origin champions and one Queensland rugby union champion are located within the premises of the Suncorp stadium in Brisbane.

The statues of five rugby league legends erected at the Suncorp stadium now are Wally Lewis (The Emperor of Lang Park), Arthur Beetson (Rugby League Im­mortal), Darren Lockyer (Champi­on player and leader), Mal Meninga (Record breaking player and coach) and Allan Langer (“Alf” a Queens­land crowd favourite).

The sole rugby union legend is John Eales (second-rower Eales is Australia’s most successful rugby captain). A proud Queensland, Eales’ stature in Australian Rugby is so grand, the award for the Walla­bies’ best player each year is named after him, the John Eales Medal.

Civoniceva had emerged with the Brisbane Broncos in 1998, the season the club won its third premiership. He was also part of title teams in 2000, when he missed the grand final, and 2006.

For 10 seasons from 1998 his sole senior club was the Brisbane Bron­cos, and for the early seasons of the 21st century he was, with Shane Webcke, half of what most pun­dits believed to be the best front-row partnership in the world.

Coach Wayne Bennett said: “Petero Civoniceva makes the grand final of the tough­est players I have coached. No one ever wanted to get tackled by him.”

Born in Suva, Fiji, he played 235 games for the Brisbane Broncos, winning two NRL Grandfinals in 1998 and 2006. He played 74 games for the Penrith Panthers, becoming the 17th player in NRL history to play 300 NRL games.

He played 45 Tests for Australia and six Tests for Fiji.

Civoniceva was inducted into the NRL Hall of Fame in 2018.

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