Keana and Dooro leave Rewa for Solomon Islands camp as their future with Delta Tigers becomes uncertain

Rewa FC will enter the 2026 Battle of the Giants without Solomon Islands internationals Don Keana and James Dooro, with both players having left Fiji to join their national team camp ahead of the MSG Prime Minister’s Cup — and questions now surrounding whether either will return to the Delta Tigers after international duty.

Rewa confirmed that Keana and Dooro have been excluded from the club’s final 22-man BOG squad because they travelled to join Solomon Islands. The club thanked both players for their contribution and wished them well on national duty, while stating that replacements are available within the squad.

On the surface, their absence is therefore straightforward: two players have left their club temporarily to represent their country. However, the composition of Rewa’s BOG squad raises a further question over their longer-term future in Nausori.

Brazilian midfielder Lucas Santos appears to be the only foreign player retained by Rewa for the tournament, while several overseas additions involved around the club’s recent OFC Champions League campaign are no longer part of the squad. That makes it unclear whether Keana and Dooro are expected to return following the MSG Prime Minister’s Cup or whether their departure for national-team duty has effectively brought their current Rewa spells to an end.

Such short-term arrangements are far from unusual in Pacific football, particularly around the OFC Champions League. Clubs regularly strengthen their squads specifically for continental competition before those players return to their previous teams or move elsewhere once the tournament finishes.

Rewa itself offers a recent example. New Caledonia international Joseph Athale joined the Delta Tigers from Tahiti United shortly before the OFC Champions League and became an important part of their continental squad. At the time, however, the exact nature of his registration was never publicly clarified, with the possibility remaining that his move had been arranged specifically for the tournament.

Keana’s situation also carried an element of that movement between competitions. The Solomon Islands attacker had been with Solomon Kings in the inaugural OFC Pro League before appearing for Rewa, while Dooro had already established himself as one of the club’s goalkeeping options in Fiji.

Unlike Athale, however, both Solomon Islanders had been involved domestically before the Champions League. Keana and Dooro were named in Rewa’s Fiji FACT squad in June, alongside Santos, showing that their involvement was not restricted solely to the continental competition.

That makes their situation considerably less clear.

Their immediate destination, at least, is certain. Both are now with the Solomon Islands national-team setup as preparations begin for the MSG Prime Minister’s Cup. For the national side, having two players who have recently been competing regularly in Fiji and were involved in an OFC Champions League campaign provides additional experience ahead of the regional tournament.

For Rewa, meanwhile, the BOG will offer an early look at the squad after a period in which the Delta Tigers assembled considerable regional talent for their Champions League challenge. The club reached the semi-finals before a 3-1 defeat to Auckland City, with Keana starting that match while Dooro was part of the goalkeeping group during the competition.

What happens after the MSG Prime Minister’s Cup will now be worth watching. Rewa’s announcement does not say that either player’s contract has ended, and there has been no official confirmation that Keana or Dooro have permanently left the club. Their omission from the BOG should therefore not yet be described as a departure.

But with Santos apparently remaining as Rewa’s sole foreign player for the tournament and the club moving into its post-OCL domestic campaign with a different-looking squad, there is at least a genuine question over whether Solomon Islands duty is merely a temporary interruption — or the final chapter of Keana and Dooro’s latest spell with the Delta Tigers.