RTS vows to help out
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck says he and other senior players need to do more to help out five-eighth Chanel Harris-Tavita against the Cowboys on Saturday.
The Warriors let slip a 24-12 lead with 19 minute to go against the Rabbitohs last weekend, to lose 28-24.
A large part of the reason why they didn’t win was because of poor game management over the final quarter of the game.
Only so much can be blamed on HarrisTavita, who was playing just his second game in the NRL, but as Warriors coach Stephen Kearney pointed out in the post match press conference, more should have been done by the experienced players around him.
Tuivasa-Sheck agrees and says there will be a focus on that this weekend.
‘‘Myself, our back rowers, they’re experienced players,’’ he said.
‘‘The boys in the middle, we all could have stepped up and helped Chanel.
‘‘I think that game last week is going to give him a lot more confidence to take on the team.
‘‘But I think us as a collective and as leaders we need to step up and play the whole 80, because unfortunately we fell asleep in the last 20 and that’s what happens.’’
Although it was a baptism of fire for Harris-Tavita, the quickest way for him to adapt to the NRL is to play in it as much as possible, especially in situations where he doesn’t have an experienced half alongside him.
‘‘He would have got a lot and I thought he performed well, especially with the amount of pressure that he got,’’ TuivasaSheck said.
‘‘The way he performed throughout the majority of the game, he was calm, he got to our kicks and got our plays going.
‘‘But just in the back end is the big lesson for us as leaders to step up. I thought Chanel did his job really well.’’
With Tuivasa-Sheck and Issac Luke at either end of the Warriors’ spine, they need to be the players who step up, with their actions and communication.
‘‘Bully’s (Luke) just as experienced. He knows when to kick the ball, when to run and how to direct the pack.
‘‘When he’s off, you miss a bit of that, especially having Greeny off as well.
‘‘It gave an opportunity for me, Jazz (Tevaga) and Chanel to try and step up when Jazz comes into hooker. We missed it last week so hopefully we can get it this time.’’
The Cowboys without the retired Johnathan Thurston and injured Jason Taumalolo aren’t the force they were last year and this is reflected in being 15th on the ladder and coming to Auckland having lost their last four games.
But there is still talent in their squad, including Matt Scott, Gavin Cooper and Jordan McLean up front, while Michael Morgan, plus Kiwis Te Maire Martin and Jordan Kahu.
‘‘They’ve got an international forward pack there,’’ Tuivasa-Sheck said.
‘‘Someone like Morgan, if he gets that pack going and he runs on the back of that, it’s going to be hard to stop.
‘‘That’s where we’ve got to put the fight up first.
‘‘Our middles did a good job last week. We just didn’t come away with the points.’’
On an individual level, it’s been an incredible start to the season from Tuivasa-Sheck, other than putting the kickoff out on the full against the Titans, he’s been close to faultless.
‘‘I feel like I’m still learning and I’m continuing to learn,’’ Tuivasa-Sheck said.
‘‘I had a full pre-season which gave me time to work on other aspects of my game – coming into the line, having the confidence to ball play a bit more.
‘‘Since I’m doing that, it’s opened up opportunities for myself.
‘‘It’s just confidence in that area that’s allowing me to run, instead of just running it back from kickoffs.’’