Fiji’s newest Australian Football League or AFL star Atunaisa Bosenavulagi

Fiji’s newest Australian Football League or AFL star Atunaisa Bosenavulagi may be unknown but he is starting to turn heads in the sport after making his debut for Collingwood last week.

The 19-year-old says he’s family was always there for him from the start.

Bosenavulagi became the third player with links to Fiji to play in the AFL when he ran out for Collingwood.

He says he is glad to get the opportunity.

“Yeah definitely very emotional for me and obviously it would be for them just a long journey getting to where I am now so yeah I’m just grateful and yeah a lot of learning experiences a lot of things to fix I’m just glad that I got the opportunity and played to my strengths”.

Speaking exclusively to FBC Sports from Australia, Bosenavulagi’s mother revealed what his achievement means.

The 19-year-old’s mom Meri Bosenavulagi was emotional when her son called her last week about the news.

But even though the family couldn’t watch Atu due to the pandemic restrictions, his mom is thankful to see Bosenavulagi’s hard work is now paying off.

“For us this is the world for him it’s something that he’s worked for all his young life and he’s focused on his career path that he’s chosen so it’s a dream come true for us. Just watching him work hard achieve his goal and this is only the beginning and now the next step is to make a career from it”.

Bosenavulagi who hails from Sawani village in Naitasiri with maternal links to Waivou in Rewa was drafted by Collingwood in 2018 when he was 16 years old.