RTS to fight charge at NRL judiciary

Warriors captain Roger TuivasaSheck will take a free swing at his shoulder charge citing when he heads to the NRL judiciary tonight.

Tuivasa-Sheck was on Saturday hit with a grade-one charge for his illegal hit, which would normally result in a twogame ban if found guilty.

A grade-one shoulder charge attracts a 200-point base penalty.

However, Tuivasa-Sheck’s seven-year clean record means he will benefit from a 25 per cent penalty reduction no matter the result of the hearing.

An early guilty plea would still have resulted in a one-game ban, while a guilty verdict also ends in a single game’s suspension for the 61st-minute hit.

Replays show Tuivasa-Sheck tucked his right shoulder before making contact with Melbourne second-rower Felise Kaufusi midway through the second half.

The incident was not penalised by the referee.

Meanwhile, teams sympathising with the Warriors after their games has become a regular feature of the Kiwi team’s difficult time in Australia but winger Patrick Herbert says enough is enough.

While thankful for the kind words on offer from their NRL rivals, Herbert hopes nobody in his team is dining out on such sentiment as they prepare to meet fellow-strugglers Brisbane in Gosford on Saturday.

The latest to address the Warriors post-game were Melbourne captain Cameron Smith and coach Craig Bellamy after the Storm delivered a crushing 50-6 lesson in Sydney last Friday, a result all the more stinging as it was the Warriors’ first outing after the sacking of coach Stephen Kearney.

‘‘Cam was just saying how hard he’d imagine it is leaving our families. He’s pretty much tipping his hat to us,’’ Herbert said. ‘‘Obviously we appreciate it, every team’s done it for us, but we don’t want to hold onto those sort of emotions, of people feeling sorry for us. We want to let it go now and just get the job done.’’

The Warriors winger said a competitive spirit still boiled within the team despite three substantial losses in their last four games.

He played down the issue of team-mates awaiting exemption for their NZ-based family members to join them in Terrigal.

Four players – David Fusitu’a,

Ken Maumalo, Agnatius Paasi and Leivaha Pulu – are considering returning home following the round nine match against Cronulla if there is no update on family movement.

Herbert, whose wife and baby are allowed with him in Terrigal because she is Australian, said it was a personal issue for the affected players and revealed the subject has not been discussed behind team walls.

‘‘All I’ve seen is the stuff that’s been in the media really. We don’t ask them questions, we don’t want to go up to that level. We’ll let them worry about it and work at training.’’