{"id":221273,"date":"2025-10-17T22:40:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T22:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/221273\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T22:40:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T22:40:15","slug":"kl-iro-cook-islands-pacific-championships-nrl-season-2025-fiji-bati-v-cook-islands-aitu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/221273\/","title":{"rendered":"KL Iro, Cook Islands, Pacific Championships, NRL season 2025, Fiji Bati v Cook Islands Aitu"},"content":{"rendered":"

After being given the honour of captain Cook Islands in the Pacific Championships, KL Iro revealed how he made a speech at school declaring that his ambition was to play for the Aitu.<\/p>\n

Iro, whose famous father Kevin knew about the appointment before he did, turned down an approach from the Kiwis to represent Cook Islands and he will now lead the Aitu against Fiji in Port Moresby on Saturday.<\/p>\n

“This jersey means a lot to me,” Iro said. “Me and my family can’t see ourselves in any other jersey. This is what I always wanted to play in as a kid.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be named captain means a lot, especially for my family back home.”<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n \"KL
\n
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\n KL Iro will captain Cook Islands for the first time against Fiji Bati in the Pacific Championships.
\n \u00a9Roan Paul\/NRL Photos
\n
\n <\/p>\n

Iro was born in England while Kevin was playing for Wigan but spent much of his childhood growing up in Arorangi in Rarotonga, before moving to Auckland in pursuit of a rugby league career.<\/p>\n

Despite also being eligible to play for New Zealand, Iro dreamed of following in footsteps of his father, who played for Cook Islands in 2000 and 2006, as well as serving as coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up he was a massive role model for me,\u201d Iro said. \u201cHe trained me young as a kid and I always knew as a kid that this is what I wanted to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to write speeches in school saying \u2018I want to make the NRL one day\u2019, but my first dream as a kid was always to represent Cook Islands, that’s why Cook Islands will always be my No.1 pick.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m happy to be here and happy to be playing NRL, but growing up, my dad was a massive role model.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always looked up to him and he’s been a massive motivation coming into my career.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n \"KL
\n
\n
\n KL Iro receives his Sharks jersey from father Kevin after debuting in 2022.
\n \u00a9Cronulla Sharks
\n
\n <\/p>\n

The Sharks centre missed last year\u2019s Pacific Championships due to injury, but is determined to help Cook Islands qualify for the next World Cup in 2026 by beating South Africa in a qualifying match at CommBank Stadium on November 9.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn’t get to put our colours on last year, so I’m happy \u2026 I was looking forward all year to get back into camp this year,\u201d Iro said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m here this year, fit and healthy and ready to put on a job on the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cI promised boys that I’ll lead on the field by my actions \u2026 I don’t really speak too much, but I’ll lead by my actions.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n \"Cook
\n
\n
\n Cook Islands will field their strongest side for some time as they look to qualify for RLWC26.
\n \u00a9Roan Paul\/NRL Photos
\n
\n <\/p>\n

As well as Iro, who played 14 games for the Sharks this season, Aitu coach Karmichael Hunt has named one of his most experienced line-ups to date, with premiership winner Brendan Piakura to line up in the backrow.<\/p>\n

Warriors forward Marata Niukore was also named in the extended squad for the Pacific Championships, but he won\u2019t play in the opening game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’re other ones; they’re going to be good leaders for us, especially for our middles and our young back rowers coming up,\u201d Iro said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re going to lead our boys into battle and they’re more actions guys as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don’t speak too much, but once it gets to the game, then that’s when you know they’re switched on and all the boys are following their lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’re massive additions to our squad and hopefully we just continue building our squad every year and, getting more boys back.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he remains in the squad, last year\u2019s captain Brad Takairangi is injured and won\u2019t feature in their opening match.<\/p>\n

Takairangi\u2019s sister Kiana will reprise her role as Vaine Moana skipper, leading the side against PNG Orchids whose team includes Eels teammates Elsie Albert, who will captain the home team, and rookie fullback Fleur Ginn.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, October 18, witness an epic doubleheader at Santos National Football Stadium as Fiji take on Cook Islands in the men’s competition, whilst PNG battle it out against Cook Islands in the women’s game. Head online via Tiket Mastas or visit an outlet to secure your tickets from K20. This is International Rugby League, unleashed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After being given the honour of captain Cook Islands in the Pacific Championships, KL Iro revealed how he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-221273","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}