16 Aug 2014

Sport: Fiji Tribe better for opening AFL loss

10:45 am on 16 August 2014

Fiji captain John Valetiri believes a full-strength squad can help drive his team into playoff contention at the AFL International Cup in Melbourne.

The Tribe won the divison two title three years ago and Valetiri says they've set their sights higher this time around.

Their campaign has been one of hard work and sacrifice, with the team funding their own flights to Australia while also receiving support from sponsors and the local community.

Fiji lost their opening game against defending champions Ireland before a resounding win over Indoesia.

Next up is Great Britain this afternoon and Valetiri is confident the team will show improvement now they're back to full strength.

"Game against Ireland we dropped to 17 players to play a few minutes in the game. The team actually holed up in the defence in the backline - we managed to keep Ireland off our goal. Then we made a few mistakes and the mistakes cost us so we're looking forward to meeting Ireland again in the semis. We're just doing our game as we play back in Fiji and a little bit of sunlight and god will do the rest".

The Fiji Vonu women's team are also in action this today against Canada Northern Lights.