Lolohea at home at fullback

It may not yet be a case of ‘‘Roger Tuivasa-Sheck who?’’ but Tuimoala Lolohea is making himself home at fullback for the Warriors.

Even before he was thrust into the role in April, when TuivasaSheck went down with a seasonending injury, Lolohea was one of the club’s best performers.

But as coach Andrew McFadden released the shackles in attack over the past two weeks, the 21-year-old utility has come into his own.

In the big wins against Brisbane and Newcastle, Lolohea ran for more than 400 metres combined, with three tryassists and three line-breaks.

Indeed, Knights coach Nathan Brown had a hard time separating ‘‘RTS’’ and Lolohea after watching Lolohea run rings around his leftedge defence last week in the Warriors’ 50-14 win. ‘‘They bought Tuivasa-Sheck but I’m not sure how much worse Lolohea is, he just hasn’t been exposed to playing fullback much,’’ Brown said. ‘‘He’s an outstanding young player and would make any side.’’

Having built a reputation as the Warriors’ Mr Fix-it since making his debut in 2014, Lolohea is relishing focusing on one position. So much so that he is dreading the day when he eventually has to hand back the No 1 jersey to his teammate.

‘‘When you’ve been all over the place in your career and you get to stay in one position, you end up falling in love with it,’’ Lolohea said ahead of Sunday’s clash against the Roosters. ‘‘It’s going to be hard at the end of the year when Roger comes back and I’m going to have to start focusing on other positions.

‘‘But I know I’ll and I’m not going negative.’’

Lolohea’s long-term future probably lies in the halves but that’s not for a while yet. And McFadden will be keen to see him continue his progress as the Warriors aim for their third consecutive win.

Fullback isn’t new to Lolohea. He filled in for Sam Tomkins last season but has been picking Tuivasa-Sheck’s brain on the finer aspects of defence and positional play.

He’s needed no such help on attack, where his speed, agility and ball-playing ability has eased the pressure on the halves and allowed the backline to flourish. ‘‘I try and create a lot of opportunities and space for the boys, jiggle around defence lines and try and get through with my footwork.’’

Lolohea puts his form down to his blossoming combination with playmakers Shaun Johnson, Thomas Leuluai and Issac Luke.

McFadden wants his spine to play what’s in front of them and Lolohea says he is following Johnson’s lead.

‘‘That’s when Shaun plays his best footy, when he gets the ball in his hands in a bit of space. I feel like I’m in the same situation, a bit of space in front of me, and he (McFadden) likes me to take those opportunities when I can.’’ Warriors v Roosters TAB odds: $1.37 $2.90 get through to take it as it a