HE arrived in Australia a little over one year ago after securing a playing contract and he has set his priorities right.
While playing rugby league for the Wests Tigers team in Sydney, Marika Koroibete is also pursuing further studies.
The 20-year-old former student of Nasinu Secondary School is doing a coaching course to have something to rely on later on in life.
"I am doing the coaching course so that just in case after my playing career, I'll have something to rely on," he said at his Farnell St home in Yaguna, Sydney.
Koroibete is contracted by the Wests Tigers until 2014.
He was spotted by the Wests Tigers scouts when he toured Australia with the Fiji under-18 rugby league team early last year and has been with the team since March last year.
On his stay in Australia so far, he said, "The first year was a bit hard as I tried to get used to the food and the weather here.
"Apart from that, I also had to get used to the Australian dialect and not forgetting the fact that Australia is a very busy place.
"The training is a bit different, everything is professional and I have almost settled in and I understand my friends now."
Koroibete said life was very good in Australia but challenging.
"Life is hard here and easy too but we have to work hard to achieve our goals," he said.
"In Fiji, we can still survive without money by staying in the village but it's a very busy life here and we have to work hard.
"Here, it's all mind your own business."
Koroibete said the Wests Tigers was a very good team and he had a very good fan base too, with the fans saying a lot of good things about him.
After signing up with the Wests Tigers, he played for the side's under-20 team in the Toyota Cup.
In the six games he played in the NRL, he scored eight tries, which made him one of the rising stars of the team.
The youngster said earlier the good words about him from his fans motivated him to perform to the best of his ability in any game he played. And why not when the fans cheer whenever he gets the ball, as they know that he would finish it off at the tryline.
Koroibete has also availed himself for the Fiji Bati team to the Rugby League World Cup next year, saying he was "proud to be a Fijian".
"I'm ready to represent Fiji because it's my country and I'm pretty sure that the Fiji Bati team to the world cup would be a good one as a lot of Fijian boys are coming up in the sport here, the youngsters, and there are experienced players too," he said.
The youngster travels some distance to his team's training sessions at the Concorde Oval either by train or is given a ride by his teammates, with whom he has jelled in well.