Rugby League: Roger Tuivasa-Sheck’s manager confirms Warriors captain will remain at NRL club next season

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck will be with the Warriors next season, and his manager will put an end to speculation linking the brilliant defender to rugby union in 2021.

And the 27-year-old NRL superstar and his partner Ash Walker have already made the decision to move their young family to Australia next year, if the Warriors are forced to camp on the other side of the ditch again.

While Captain Tuivasa-Sheck’s commitment to the Warriors was never in doubt, Covid-19 has posed many problems for athletes around the world, and particularly for a team like the Warriors playing in another nation’s competition.

Tuivasa-Sheck, one of the country’s most admired sports stars, has been an inspiration as the Warriors dealt with all sorts of issues primarily related to Covid-19 in Australia this year.

The team, which plays its final game against the Sea Eagles on Sunday, has been camped out in Australia for nearly five months, and the team moved there on short notice before family members could join them later.

After speculation about rugby resurfaced over the weekend, Warriors CEO Cameron George and Tuivasa-Sheck’s agent Bruce Sharrock met this morning.

Sharrock, who has about 10 other Warriors on his books, told NZME that Tuivasa-Sheck was one of many professional athletes around the world facing uncertain times due to pandemic restrictions.

Captain and fullback Tuvasa-Sheck is signed until the end of the 2022 season, although the final year of that deal has an option in his favor.

“Like many players, Roger was concerned about what next year will be like,” Sharrock said.

“Roger asked ‘what will happen next year? But everyone has time to plan what they can do this time.”

The spotlight has fallen on Tuivasa-Sheck’s 2021 season because it is so important to the club, and it was widely reported how difficult he was finding life away from Ash and his young children Amara, 3, and Nico, who is about to turn 1.

They had stayed in Manukau because the children were so young and Ash had a lot of family support here. But with more time to plan, they will head to Australia next year if necessary. Tuivasa-Sheck’s parents live in Sydney.

The rugby union’s suggestions didn’t come completely out of nowhere.

To begin with, New Zealand Rugby Players Association manager Kevin Senio approached the Tuivasa-Sheck camp, asking if he would be available for a proposed match between the All Blacks and a Pasifika team.

Senio was told that Tuivasa-Sheck was under contract, and that playing for a Pasifika rugby team was “highly unlikely”. The game never went on.

But as Tuivasa-Sheck was trying to decide what to do next year in such tumultuous times, Sharrock reached out to New Zealand Rugby to see if it would consider a player like him. Sharrock briefed the Warriors on that.

Tuivasa-Sheck’s plans for 2021 are now being finalized.

Sharrock said the key for the players and the family was to treat any change as an adventure and an opportunity to experience a different culture.

Warriors boss George said the club had to be innovative and flexible to deal with what lay ahead in such uncertain times.

“I have to consider the welfare and well-being of all the players,” he said.

“These are difficult situations, but I never felt that Roger was going to leave.

“He is our leader, the face of the club, an incredible human.”