Kearney denies RTS ‘shenanigans’

Warriors coach Stephen Kearney insists there were “no shenanigans” over an injury that kept Roger Tuivasa-Sheck out of the Anzac Day clash against the Melbourne Storm.

The reigning Dally M medallist was removed from the line-up on Wednesday night due to a hamstring injury. The injury was reported by media on Tuesday morning, only to be denied by Kearney that afternoon when questioned by Radio Sport.

However, following the Warriors 13-12 loss to Melbourne, Kearney admitted his star fullback reported “a little bit of tightness” in the muscle after training on Monday.

“We trained on Monday and he completed training. He had a little bit of tightness but nothing too serious,” Kearney said.

“That’s the platform of social media, I don’t know how it got out. He was adamant that he was okay then at the captain’s run didn’t pull up so well and we just didn’t want to take the risk.

“But there were no shenanigans on our part. If you ask Roger, he was adamant that he was going to play.”

Tuivasa-Sheck was one of three late withdrawals for the Warriors along with halfback Blake Green (groin) and centre Solomone Kata (compassionate grounds), while star winger David Fusitu’a was already sidelined with a rib injury.

But the circumstances around Tuivasa-Sheck’s withdrawal after the idea initially being quashed by Kearney came under criticism.

Kearney insisted there was never any intention to deliberately mislead the interested parties, and said Tuivasa-Sheck was always expected to play until after the Wednesday captain’s run.