Warriors captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck has revealed the role he played in convincing young gun Reece Walsh to come to the club. Photo / Getty Images.
Warriors captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck has revealed the role he played in convincing young gun Reece Walsh to come to the club. Photo / Getty Images.
Warriors captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck has revealed the role he played in convincing young gun Reece Walsh to come to the club.
The Broncos junior agreed terms with the Auckland club earlier this month, fending off interest from several other NRL teams.
The move was seen as a coup for theWarriors, as they were looking for a long-term option in the No 1 jersey, with Tuivasa-Sheck signing off at the end of this season.
Tuivasa-Sheck has yet to see Walsh play – "the talk around the group that have seen him is that he's quite sharp" – but gained a positive first impression of the 18-year-old when they met late last month near the club's Terrigal base.
"I had a coffee with him and he seemed like a real down-to-earth person," said Tuivasa-Sheck. "That's a real good value straight away and hopefully he can hold onto that.
"He's been in another system and he's picked up some good things. I was telling him about coming over and really keeping a standard and trying to work out what's high standards and what's not. You know living away from Australia is just about keeping those standards and staying true to it."
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck runs out on to Central Coast Stadium. Vodafone Warriors v Newcastle Knights. NRL Rugby League, Central Coast Stadium. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
During their meeting, Tuivasa-Sheck espoused the virtues of opting for the Warriors.
"[The club] is heading in a really good direction, especially with the people that come on board, players and staff-wise. He's going to do really well here, especially with a pack that we have now, he's going to love that front foot ball off this pack.
"And he's young, he's got some young players around, young halves. He can grow in this club and there's a group of players who are still mid 20s and under who can grow with him."
Tuivasa-Sheck is looking forward to working with Walsh, with talk of an early release being granted.
"I would love to work with him, give him a few pointers and especially grow within this group. Hopefully he comes to us sooner rather than later and I get to work with him."
Ahead of Saturday's clash with the Raiders, the fullback says the Warriors need to sharpen their attack and "play more footy". The Warriors dominated the territorial battle for long periods against Knights but couldn't make it count and their attack was often one-dimensional.
"We've just got to back ourselves and play a bit more footy," said Tuivasa-Sheck. "That's what we took away from last week. We all know we've got some big middles, some big backs.
"At times we've done really well to crash over [the advantage line] and our big boys getting momentum, and we need to play footy on the back of that."
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck celebrates with teammates after scoring. Vodafone Warriors v Newcastle Knights. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
Getting the right balance between structure and flair has always been crucial for the Warriors and Tuivasa-Sheck hopes to see more second-phase play.
"It's not so much going wide, it's more just being able to do a tip, two tips," said Tuivasa-Sheck. "Just play a bit more flat and fast. Not relying heavily on our big wingers or big props, and just playing a bit more combinations."
Within the first fortnight of the season the Warriors have lost key backs Euan Aitken and Chanel Harris-Tavita for extended periods, but Tuivasa-Sheck said it was part of the sport.
"You would love to go a whole season without injuries and you'd love to start off well and not have anyone having a breakdown, but unfortunately that's footy.
"But we're pretty confident in the players that we have. The recruitment that we've done has been really good so [we are] pretty lucky to have a squad like we have."
