Tuivasa-Sheck talks up duel with Tedesco
Warriors captain Roger TuivasaSheck hasn’t shied away from talking up the individual matchups ahead of the Warriors’ mustwin clash with the defending premiers on Sunday.
The Roosters have arguably the most formidable roster, on paper, in the NRL and the biggest name is electric fullback James Tedesco.
The NSW Blues No 1 is having another terrific season at the back for the Roosters and off the back of a dominant State of Origin campaign, has plenty of fans and pundits labelling him the best in the game.
But the Warriors fullback is playing well, too, and the defending Dally M Medallist isn’t backing away from the challenge of taking on Tedesco.
‘‘I always look forward to those match-ups, no matter who the other fullback is,’’ TuivasaSheck said.
‘‘It’s a personal challenge of mine just to go out there and outwork them or do my part to help my team get over them.
‘‘Tedesco’s definitely quality, I enjoy watching him play and it’ll be a good battle this week.’’
The pair are neck and neck when it comes to the stats, and will both will be in the mix at season’s end when this year’s Dally M Medal winner is announced.
When voting went behind closed doors after round 12, Tedesco sat sixth and held a three-point lead over TuivasaSheck. However, on current form both will have likely overtaken the likes of Mitchell Pearce and Jason Taumalolo.
They also share the obvious tie of both having played fullback for the Roosters, though TuivasaSheck said he didn’t buy into the comparisons – he simply wants to win the head-to-head battles.
‘‘He’s playing really good footy. You know, he should be talked about, he’s going really well for the team over there,’’ he said.
‘‘For me it’s just about going over there and trying to do a good job.
‘‘I’m looking forward to the challenge because he’s, at this stage, one of the best fullbacks going around so I want to challenge myself against him.’’
Warriors wing Ken Maumalo revealed the battle between Tuivasa-Sheck and the opposing fullback is something he looks forward to.
And after facing both Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad and Tom Trbojevic in back-to-back weeks, the job doesn’t get any easier this Sunday.
‘‘Roger has been battling all those fullbacks the last few weeks and loving it – and this weekend the two best fullbacks in the world go head to head,’’ Maumalo said.
‘‘It’s going to be one hell of a game and I know Roger will do a good job, it’s then on the rest of us to back him up.
‘‘The Roosters are no joke obviously, and winning the individual battles will go a long way to getting a good team performance out there.
‘‘It starts with our preparation and making sure we are ready mentally, and Rog is the leader for a reason, he always switched on.’’
Tuivasa-Sheck leads Tedesco in many attacking statistics, including total runs, post-contact metres and run metres.
Tedesco, however, has the edge in line breaks, tries and tryassists.