RTS to fill in at fullback
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck will be back in the No 1 jersey for the Warriors against the Newcastle Knights on Easter Sunday, but don’t expect it to become a regular sight.
With first-choice fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad still a week away from returning from a hamstring injury, and second-choice Taine Tuaupiki now sidelined with concussion, coach Andrew Webster has had to turn to his third option.
The good news is the Warriors’ thirdchoice fullback would be the first choice for many NRL sides, just as he was during his first stint at the club before he made way for Reece Walsh midway through 2021, then moved to rugby.
Ever since Tuivasa-Sheck announced his return to league last year, he has been eyeing a role in the centres, but after three rounds wearing the No 4 jersey, he finds himself back where he made a name for himself.
“Roger's wanted to play centre the whole time, but he’s always known that he’d be third man up and he welcomes the challenge,” Webster said yesterday.
“Roger’s different this time. He’s always been a team guy, but he knows he doesn’t have to put the whole team on his back. He plays a role as another cog in the wheel – a very good one.”
Tuivasa-Sheck played fullback for most of the second half of the Warriors’ 18-10 win over the Canberra Raiders last Friday, moving back after Tuaupiki went off for a head injury assessment.
Tuaupiki started that match and the losses to the Melbourne Storm and the Cronulla Sharks before it only after Nicoll-Klokstad went down with a hamstring injury in pre-season.
Nicoll-Klokstad had been a revelation at fullback in the Warriors’ run to the preliminary finals in 2023, but Webster said Tuaupiki had done “a fantastic job” of filling his boots.
The Warriors are set to welcome back hooker Wayde Egan, who has been out since round one, forward Marata Niukore, who hasn’t featured at all so far this season, and utility Dylan Walker.