"I learned that off my old man," says Tuivasa-Sheck. "Going into every game, he used to tell me, 'you are the best player on that field'. That is how you need to see yourself. It was hard for me sometimes to see that because of the boys around me but I have to see it that way."
It also matches reality. Aside from the incomparable Johnathan Thurston, 2015 will be remembered as the year Tuivasa-Sheck tore up the record books.
He ran for almost 6000m, when previously no one had exceeded 5000m, amid a host of magical moments.
He's come a long way so quickly - he made his NRL debut only three years ago - that he's stopped setting career goals.
"I did at the start," laughs Tuivasa-Sheck. "But I've been lucky. The way I have been going, everything has happened so early for me. Things have been happening so fast.
"At the moment, me, my manager and my old man now look at things year-by-year - see what I can do in each year [and] enjoy the moments that come past."
Next year will be a homecoming for Tuivasa-Sheck, who almost linked with the Warriors as a teenager.
As a cross-code star at Otahuhu College, he was courted by the Blues and Warriors but the Roosters were the most proactive.
"I was pretty close to signing with the Warriors," says Tuivasa-Sheck. "At the end of school, I was in the Auckland Blues academy. Then I started playing league, and started enjoying league again and the Warriors came along.
"I was deciding between union or league and I was either going Warriors or Blues. My dad and I decided on league because the under-20s was a chance to go straight into a professional environment. Then the Roosters came along and offered me a good deal and that one seemed right."
Tuivasa-Sheck can't turn around a franchise singlehandedly and his new club have plenty of issues to fix but Warriors fans should be excited. Aside from all of his attacking gifts, Tuivasa-Sheck is also a stout defender, epitomised by some brilliant try-saving tackles on the Kiwis tour.
He rarely slows down. He's a relentless trainer, almost like an uncoiled spring, as he is usually first to sprint onto the field at every Kiwis training session or captain's run. And he's strong. Several Kiwis players had a chin-up competition at the end of a gym session last week but no one could out-do Tuivasa-Sheck, who was thrusting almost his whole body above the bar with each one, like something you might see at Olympic gymnastics.
He's also hard on himself. Two hours after the second test win in London, he was still shaking his head about an unforced error in the second half that led to an English repeat set.
Tuivasa-Sheck has had to quickly become accustomed to fame. It's hard to be anywhere in Sydney or Auckland without being recognised, but being chased by kids for autographs and photos in Leeds, Hull, London and Wigan has been a new experience.
"The attention has been crazy - even here," he says. "People recognise me, kids recognise me. I'm surprised but I try my best to be head down, work first."
His partner watched this morning's third test and they will have a short holiday together in Europe before continuing house hunting in Auckland.
"We want to find a house," says Tuivasa-Sheck. "[We] don't want to bunk in with Grandma or anything. Then on January 4 I go back for training, back to work with the Warriors. That's when it all starts for real."
- By Michael Burgess in Liverpool
Autex - Proud supporters of New Zealand rugby league since 1981
