Ravalawa ready to be centre of attention for young Bati team

Dragons star Mikaele Ravalawa has revealed how he put his hand up to play centre for Fiji after a shattered Sunia Turuva was ruled out of Sunday’s Pacific Bowl final against Papua New Guinea with a calf injury.

Turuva was in tears after failing a fitness test at Bati training on Thursday and will again watch from the sidelines as English-raised speedster Jason Qareqare again takes his place, with Ravalawa shifting from wing to centre.

With Maika Sivo and Suliasi Vunivalu on the wings, the 25-year-old Ravalawa made his Test debut at centre against Lebanon in 2019 but it is a position he has never played in the five seasons at St George Illawarra.

However, with Turuva - the 2023 NRL rookie of the year and Panthers premiership winner – injuring his calf while scoring the match winning try against Cook Islands two weeks ago, Ravalawa found himself at right centre last Sunday.

After helping Fiji to a 43-16 win against the Kumuls, he will again line up in the unfamiliar position in this weekend’s final before an expected sell-out crowd at Santos National Football Stadium.  

“We have got an injury at the moment - Turuva is injured - so they pushed me into the centres to give a chance to the young bloke, so that is good,” Ravalawa said.

“I don’t mind playing centre, it was a good experience. It is a bit harder defending in the centres because you have to defend two players, depending on what the attack is doing and fitness wise you move up and back, so it was good."

After missing last year’s World Cup with a hamstring injury, Ravalawa has played just five Tests for the Bati but he is now a senior player in the young side being prepared by coach Wise Kativerata for the 2026 World Cup.

Captain Tui Kamakamica will become the second most capped Bati player behind Kevin Naiqama (25) when he makes his 19th Test appearance on Sunday, while Taane Milne (12) and Maika Sivo (9) are the only others with more experience than Ravalawa.

“I’m not really good at [talking] but it’s pretty much communicating with the young players,” Ravalawa said.

“For the young players coming up, it is a good experience for them and as a senior player, the young blokes are really good and show so much respect for the senior players.”

Among the young talent learning from the likes of Kamikamica, Sivo and Ravalawa are fullback Jahream Bula, five-eighth Kurt Donoghoe, Qareqare and forwards Caleb Navare, Kitione Kautoga and Gordon Whippy.

Kautoga, plays for the Bulldogs alongside Fijian superstar Viliame Kikau, who along with Wests Tigers hooker Api Koroisau and Newcastle’s Saifiti twins, Daniel and Jacob, are missing from the Bati squad for the Pacific Championships.

Born and raised in Fiji, the 21-year-old was recruited from Cronulla to Wests Tigers by Michael Maguire before making a mid-season move to Canterbury, where Kikau has taken him under his wing.

“He has been good for myself, just telling me to play my own game and not to try to do things that that I don’t do on the field,” Kautoga said. “He's been good for me in that side of things.

“Being in this team, I keep having to pinch myself whenever I look around and I see star players like Mika [Ravalawa], Maika and Sunia, who has just come off a premiership.

“It's been mad to be just alongside those boys, and I've just been picking their brains and learning what they do off the field to prepare themselves for big games like this.”