By Richard Ewart, ABC Broadcast. The head of Lakapi Samoa women’s academy, Filoi Eneliko, already has an impressive resume, having worked with Samoa’s national women’s XV and sevens teams, and coached the men’s team from Upolu in the national championship.
And now she’s taken on a new role, travelling to Australia to fill the post of Assistant Coach with the ACT Brumbies in Super W.
She was approached by World Rugby’s Women’s High Performance Manager Nicky Ponsford during the Oceania Women’s Combine in Brisbane last year.
And the head coach’s job at the Brumbies was actually on the table, but mindful of her role with the Women’s Academy back in Apia, and unsure in her own mind that she was ready for such a task, Eneliko opted to take on the assistant coach’s position instead.
Also the most capped womens rugby touch player in Samoa, Eneliko is ambitious, and she certainly wants to be a Super W head coach in the future, but ideally not in Australia, but on home soil with a Samoan team.
Eneliko believes Samoa can be the next cab off the Pacific rank to join the Super W competition.
Despite losing their opening game against the Drua in Fiji, Eneliko is revelling in the experience of working with the Super W team from Canberra, and taking back the knowledge and experience gained to further develop the women’s code of the game in Samoa.
