NRL: Warriors captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck remains in doubt as due date clashes with Rabbitohs clash

Warriors captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck is preparing to play against South Sydney, but the arrival of his new born baby could rule him out of Saturday's NRL clash at Mt Smart Stadium.

Tuivasa-Sheck is expected to return to the Warriors No 1 jersey against the Rabbitohs after missing last week's 24-14 win over Parramatta in Sydney, while he remained in Auckland to support his expecting fiancée Ashley Walker.

Warriors' supporters will be praying the baby arrives well before or after this weekend's match, which kicks-off at 7.30pm, with Tuivasa-Sheck confirming Walker is due to give birth on game day.

Depending on the timing, the birth could potentially see the Kiwi international drop out of the side for the second week in a row, with the club understanding of the fact that family takes priority over football.

"The due date is on Saturday," Tuivasa-Sheck explained at a media announcement confirming Vodafone had extended their sponsorship of the Warriors through until 2022.

"There's no plan to it. I'm just going in ready to play and if it happens it happens.

"I'm happy if it does I've got the support of the club on that."

Coach Stephen Kearney is confident Tuivasa-Sheck will be on deck for the match which pits the third-placed Warriors against the fourth-ranked Rabbitohs, who arrive searching for their fourth straight win.

"There's a very good chance of him playing and having the captain of the group available always helps," said Kearney.

"It was unfortunate that we didn't have him last week but that was a very personal matter and we were certainly going to support that.

"I've just got my fingers crossed and everything else that it's not at 7.30 Saturday night."

If Tuivasa-Sheck is ruled out, the Warriors are likely to call on Peta Hiku to cover fullback once more as he did against the Eels.

However, Hiku is also a candidate to play in the halves with No 7 Mason Lino in doubt with a leg injury, and his absence could prompt Kearney to call backline reserve Gerard Beale into the starting side.

If both are unavailable, the club may seek exemption from the NRL to bring another player into their squad as they did last week with Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad.