KEY POINTS:
Grant Rovelli is committed to the Warriors through to 2010, but don't expect him to do a "Fien" and elect to play for the Kiwis.
Rovelli is happy he made the right decision in stepping out from behind a number of half/five-eighth contenders at the Roosters to sign for the Auckland club in 2006, despite three of those who were vying with him having since moved on.
Jamie Soward switched to the Dragons, Josh Lewis to Gold Coast and Brett Finch to Parramatta but it's all gone over Rovelli's head and he's happy where he is - the team are in the top four, and he's running out to start every week.
"I made the right decision, I knew that straight away," the 23-year-old said.
"I wanted to play first grade and I have, every game last year and just two missed this year."
On Sunday he will run the Warriors' attack against his old club, which fields seven players who ran around with Rovelli in the Roosters premier league grade.
"We've been swapping a few texts. I'm looking forward to it," Rovelli said, though he has nothing to prove to his old club, rather a desire to impress for his new one.
Rovelli's father, Tony, is football manager for the Roosters.
"We don't really talk much about footy," the halfback said, but he knows his dad is proud of his achievements.
Rovelli scored twice against Wests Tigers at Campbelltown and notched two more tries against the Knights at Mt Smart last weekend.
"It's a credit to the forwards," he said, "they're making room for us to move, they've been dominating sides. Then we've got George [Gatis] and Nathan [Fien] making holes too."
For him, it had been a matter of watching when to back up.
When the team was going through its bad streak, six losses on the trot, the coaching staff told the players they were just an extra pass away from scoring more tries and that the tide would turn for them, not to despair.
"The coaching staff had faith in us and we had faith in the coaching staff and it's all come good," he said. The team now have six wins from their last seven games. More players were presenting themselves on attack, looking for the ball, and that extra pass was being made. There was more confidence to promote the ball but it was controlled.
Rovelli copped plenty of criticism for the Warriors' bad run. He's shrugged it off and came through to shine for the team, his probing and short passes around the ruck creating chances for himself and others.
The Warriors were sitting hot in a playoff spot but everyone within the team knew one or two losses could rob them of that opportunity, Rovelli said.
They had discussed what they had to do - "Stay consistent - it's about good preparation, starting the game right. At the start of the year we were starting well then falling away, we didn't finish. The last couple of games, we've been playing for the whole 80 minutes."
Those wins - 44-16 over the Dragons, 28-16 over Wests Tigers and 52-10 over the Knights last weekend - have seen them amass 124 points, including 21 tries. They had spoken about expecting to tough it out against the Roosters, about not expecting the tries to come every few minutes, Rovelli said. "We have to stay grounded."
Rovelli came here on a two-year deal, which was extended mid-2006 through to 2010. Given he's going to be here that long and will qualify to represent New Zealand by October 2008, any thoughts about the Kiwis? "No - I'm a Queenslander, especially seeing Lucky get there this year," Rovelli said of teammate Micheal Luck who was named 18th man for the Maroons in State of Origin.
