MELBOURNE, Oct 23 : Fiji has no chance of matching the financial rewards Australia can offer Mark Nawaqanitawase but the nation's rugby union hopes the lure of representing his ancestral homeland will persuade the dual international to wear the Flying Fijians jersey at next year's World Cup.
With Nawaqanitawase weighing up his international future, Fiji Rugby Union Chairman John Sanday made an emotional pitch to the former Wallabies winger in an interview with Reuters, stressing identity, belonging and the opportunity to inspire a small Pacific nation.
"We will never be able to offer the financial and the marketing rewards that playing for the Wallabies would offer Mark, but we would offer something that goes deeper," Sanday said.
"It's about identity. It's about who we are, and we are Fijians.
"We come from a tiny little island, a speck in the vast Pacific Ocean, but we are punching above our weight in the global rugby hemisphere."
Nawaqanitawase finished up his spell with the Sydney Roosters after his tries helped them to the National Rugby League title earlier this month and is returning to the 15-man game on a two-year deal with Japanese club Wild Knights.
Wallabies coach Les Kiss is keen to secure Nawaqanitawase for the World Cup but the winger declined to be part of the team's squad for the Nations Championship tests and said he would not make a decision until next year.
The 26-year-old, who also has Italian heritage, told a podcast this week that the chance of success in his next endeavour was a bigger motivator than money.
"I still have more to prove. I don't know where that's going to be, but wherever I go, I feel like I have a lot to give the team," he told 'The Good, the Bad & the Rugby' podcast.
"Whoever it's for, I want to go and win it."
Nawaqanitawase also spoke warmly of his Fijian upbringing, recalling a household buzzing with visiting Fijian relatives and annual school holiday trips to his ancestral village.
"I grew up in the village running around playing touch, whether it was with a coconut or a bottle, playing volleyball or just swimming in the river," he said.
Sanday said those connections could prove decisive in his next move.
"He is one of us. He's a Fijian. He has a village where his father is from. He has a tribe and a clan to where he belongs," he said.
"Yes, he's Australian. We respect that, and if he chooses to go for Australia, of course, we will always respect that. I'd say that we would like to see him come and just play a year for us, and then he can go back to the Aussies."