Tuivasa-sheck channels his inner Jordan
The Warriors will be having their own version of the Chicago Bull’s last dance this season. Last year’s documentary about the Bulls’ 1997-8 campaign was one that helped with sports fans’ sanity as the world went into lockdown, giving an unprecedented insight into Michael Jordan as he played his last season with the NBA team.
For thewarriors, theywill also be farewelling one of their greatest ever players this season, with Roger Tuivasa-sheck heading off to rugby union at the end of the campaign.
While for some it may seem too much of a stretch to compare Tuivasa-sheck to Jordan, like the Bulls 23 years ago, the Warriors are preparing towin the big one before one of their icons departs.
One player can’t have asmuch influence on a rugby league game as an individual can have in basketball, but there are similarities between TuivasaSheck and Jordan.
They both demand the best from their team-mates, but also theywouldn’t ask them to do anything they wouldn’t do themselves.
Tuivasa-sheck is a big basketball fan, and it’s no surprise that he was hooked on Last Dance, likemany other people.
‘‘The way I see Jordan is that he was a pure athlete and a pure competitor,’’ Tuivasa-sheck said.
‘‘He wanted to win and he knew the recipe, so he used his men around him to help get that win.
‘‘In the first part of his career he was doing it all, he was scoring, defending, he was doing everything.
‘‘Then towards the back end of his career he started to work out what he needed to do and when he needed to apply himself to get thewin.’’
Same with Tuivasa-sheck. When he was first appointed Warriors captain, in 2017, it seemed an odd choice. Yes, he was probably the club’s best player, but at the age of 23, it seemed a lot to place on his young shoulders, but over the years he grew into the role to become an outstanding leader.
‘‘It’s not just myself that has matured over the years, it’s the players around me also. So my leadership group, they’ve grown as well,’’ he said.
‘‘People like Tohu Harris, Jazz Tevaga, they’ve been stepping up, and Addin [Fonua-blake] will be stepping up too.
‘‘A lot of the boys are now keen to take control of this team and that’s good, because in a way we all should be leading.’’
There are two things on his mind as he embarks on his final season in league.
One is that he doesn’t want to make it all about him, the other is that he’s determined to play better than he did in 2020.
Thewarriors fullbackwill return to rugby at the end of the NRL season, having signed with Auckland Rugby and the Blues.
But don’t think the 27-year-old has got one foot out the door and is already thinking about the hours he’ll be spending watching scrums being reset from afar in the next chapter of his career.
He wants to finish on a high with thewarriors, both in terms of how the team does and how he plays.
For the first time since 2016, Tuivasa-sheck didn’t win the Simonmannering Medal last year, for being the best player at the club, with it going to Harris.
Judging him by the same standards as the average NRL player, he had a great 2020 but for Tuivasa-sheck it was a down year.
He scored only five tries, had three try assists and eight line breaks and while his value to the team goes beyond statistics, Tuivasa-sheck is honest about not being as much of a threat as he wanted to last year. He doesn’t blame team-mates for not giving him enough attacking opportunities, but says the fault lies with him.
‘‘That’s down to myself, not adapting to the way the game was changing,’’ Tuivasa-sheck said.
‘‘Everything now is through themiddle, it’s fast, it’s quicker and I need to adapt.
‘‘That’s going to be where my space is, through themiddle of the park and coming off offloads or line breaks, finishing line breaks.
‘‘I’ve been standing too far away from the shape play and I miss those opportunities.
‘‘So my big focus this year will be around that free-flowing footy and not standing and waiting for a shape to be played out to me.’’
Over the season TuivasaSheck will be inundated with questions from media about his switch to rugby while there will also be calls for the team to ‘do it for Roger’ this year.
But the club’s captain says there hasn’t been any talk about that so far. ‘‘It’s been a good thing, we haven’t had it in any of our conversations,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s not going to be like it was in 2020, when everything was all over the place. We’re more set, we know what’s coming and we’re ready to go.’’
He’d never use it as an excuse but one reason why TuivasaSheck wasn’t at his best last year was because he spent the entire season away from his young family. This year though, his partner Ashley walker and their two children are with him in Australia and a happy player is a good player.
‘‘It feels good having my partner and my kids here,’’ he said.
‘‘It brings a bit more purpose to my day and on my days off I can go home and do all of my daddy duties and get ready for training aswell.
‘‘Last year, I was pretty much just hanging around and trying to see what the Central Coast is all about. But now I can continue to have balance inmy day.’’
‘‘He wanted to win and he knew the recipe, so he used his men around him to help get that win.’’
Roger Tuivasa-sheck
on basketball superstar Michael Jordan