Source: Radio New Zealand
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck is off contract with the Warriors at the end of this season. Andrew Cornaga/Photosport
NZ Warriors coach Andrew Webster hasn’t completely given up hope of retaining superstar Roger Tuivasa-Sheck beyond this season.
The veteran wing’s future at the club has been up in the air since last year, when he was linked to the breakaway R360 union competition, which has been delayed until 2028.
NRL players have been threatened with a 10-year ban if they sign with the Saudi-backed rebel outfit, so very few have declared their intentions.
Former All Black Tuivasa-Sheck’s current contract with the Warriors ends this season, so he has been the subject of intense interest over his immediate prospects.
Two weeks ago, he was reportedly exploring options with Sydney NRL clubs. Latest rumours have him heading to the English Super League with Wakefield Trinity.
Webster was loathe to fuel the speculation, but hinted Tuivasa-Sheck’s departure was not quite a done deal.
“I’ve had plenty of conversations,” he acknowledged. “Whichever way it goes, whether he stays or wherever he ends up, if he plays union or plays league… if he leaves, he goes with our blessing and if there’s an opportunity for him at the end of the season to stay, we’d celebrate that too.
“It will all become clearer, but we’ve had really good conversation and we’re on the same page, which is always a good feeling between a player and a coach.”
Webster had previously said he hoped Tuivasa-Sheck never left the club.
Last month, Tuivasa-Sheck, 32, played questions about his future with a straight bat.
“My head is still down in the trenches for the pre-season,” he said during the Warriors pre-season. “Just trying to turn up each day, each week for the grind, because everyone is so fast and I have to keep up.
“Future stuff I will get to at some stage, but I’m always putting my actions on the field and do my talking from there.”
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck heads for the corner against Sydney Roosters. Andrew Cornaga/Photosport
Conjecture ramped up this month, when Aussie media reported the Warriors were close to signing former All Blacks Sevens star and Melbourne Storm wing Will Warbrick.
At the time, Webster warned not to believe everything you hear on the rumour mill.
“A lot of the time, we’re linked to players that we’re not even close to signing or I get a text message from someone saying, ‘I heard so-and-so is starting tonight’, but no, they’re not.
“I don’t know where it comes from, but sometimes where there’s smoke, there’s fire and sometimes they’re just miles off. Sometimes they’re just trying to pump up the price.”
On Wednesday, he had no update on that situation.
Tuivasa-Sheck is still the only Warrior to win the Dally M Medal as the NRL’s Player of the Year in 2018 and won his fourth Simon Mannering Medal as the club’s Most Valuable Player last year.
The Warriors have several other players off contract beyond 2026, including Origin star Kurt Capewell and veteran second-rower Marata Niukore, who has been linked to Newcastle Knights in recent weeks.
“I haven’t read too much into it, to be honest,” Niukore grinned. “It’s pretty clichéd, but that stuff will sort itself and, over time, I’m pretty sure we’ll knock it on the head and hopefully that’s it.”
He had “no idea” when an official announcement might be forthcoming.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
