Voted the RLPA's best bench player of 2026, Kurt Donoghoe offers Fiji several options across the field.
The 24-year-old Dolphins player has featured at lock, hooker and in the halves; all seven of his Fiji Tests have been at No.6 or No.7.
Fiji face Australia and New Zealand in their Rugby League World Cup pool, with Cook Islands their round-one opponents.
The Bati will be without Tui Kamikamica, Viliame Kikau and Jahream Bula because of illness and injury.
Donoghoe pointed to Jacob Safiti, Api Koroisau and Sunia Turuva as experienced players in the squad.
"Jacob Safiti, it's unreal to get him on board, and we have Api (Koroisau) and (Sunia) Turuva who have won comps in the NRL and are big-game players," Donoghoe said.
"I think we've got great potential and we will give it a red-hot crack."
Raised in Newcastle, Donoghoe says his late paternal grandmother, Kim, inspired his connection to Fiji.
"She is very important to me and is the only reason I can play for Fiji, being my dad's mum," Donoghoe told AAP.
"She was a big part of my life during my whole childhood and took us back to Fiji to show us where she was raised when I was 12."
"That was a pretty cool experience to go over there and see where she grew up, in a little place called Ba."
"That moment was a bit of a life-changer and has stuck close to my heart ever since. I know who I am playing for when I run out for Fiji."