Tuivasa-Sheck explains why he's struggled with new positional demands in return to the Warriors

The 2024 NRL season has been hugely challenging for Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, in more ways than one.

After his rugby union hiatus, Tuivasa-Sheck's return to the club this year brought with it lofty hopes. With the team riding a wave of popularity on the back of its most successful campaign in over a decade, the prospect of injecting a former Dally M medallist back into the fold was a mouth-watering thought for Wahs fans.

Once the competition's best fullback, the Aucklander was forced to play an unfamiliar role in the centres, as coach Andrew Webster staunchly refused to budge on his stance that Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad should wear the No.1 jersey.

That adjustment has proved difficult for Tuivasa-Sheck, who has struggled to impose his gamebreaking talents on the field. The occasions where he has played fullback - which has only happened when at least two injuries had forced Webster's hand - he's been considerably more impactful.

Making that transition even more difficult has been the revolving door of midfield and outside back partners he's had to adjust to. With different players consistently both inside and outside him, Tuivasa-Sheck admits it's made his learning curve considerably more steep.

Did we mention he's also had to play on the wing?

"The toughest thing is trying to develop my own game personally," Tuivasa-Sheck told SENZ's Running it Straight.

"If I'm a right centre, I want to work on 'Okay, I need to get my left fend down, right arm offload. I want to be better on my left side, inside shoulder tackle. But then, when you're trying to build that development, you get pushed over to the left wing and then 'okay, I've got to drop back, I've actually got to carry with my left arm now'.

Tuivasa-Sheck says the result has been having to apply most of his focus to ensuring the latest makeshift backline is as cohesive as possible, rather than being able to impose his own extraordinary skillset.

The Warriors' Achilles heel this season has been their ability to put points on the board, failing to capitalise on quality field position with an offence that has been altogether too predictable for opposition defences.

"It's been more tough on my own development as a player," he admits. "So, for me, it's all about just building combinations and making the guys inside and outside me feel comfortable.

"But I think the toughest thing is just developing my game and seeing if I can make myself better each week. Where at the moment, it's just making the line feel comfortable with a new player there."

One reprieve Tuivasa-Sheck has savoured this season is not having to take on the added responsibilities of the captaincy role he occupied for a large part of his first tenure for the Warriors, which lasted 111 games over six seasons.

"It's funny because it's a lot different for me this time around," he explained.

"Last time I was here, I was captain for five years. I was sitting in the front, I was leading the meetings. I was trying to push the energy. I was trying to get everyone hype.

"But now I get to sit back and watch the new crew come through and lead in their way, and I get to just try and make sure that I'm bringing out my best and talk to the young boys.

"I feel like I'm enjoying it a bit more because there's no huge responsibilities on me. I get to just be myself, try and lead through my actions and hype up the guys around me where I'm not trying to lead a whole club."

With the team's 2024 finals hopes dead and buried, attention through the final two rounds has turned to ensuring their departing guard of club stalwarts Shaun Johnson and Jazz Tevaga - as well as stand-out Addin Fonua-Blake - enjoy a fitting farewell.

That begins in their final home match against the Canterbury Bulldogs on Friday, where the club will close out their remarkable record of sold-out fixtures at what has been dubbed, for one week only, ‘Shaun Johnson Stadium'.

"Everyone's in high spirits at the moment," said Tuivasa-Sheck.

"We've firstly accepted where we sit this season and we've got two more games to enjoy ourselves with some of the quality players that are leaving us.

"It's all about just enjoying the moments now. And yes, of course, we've got a job to do. We're professional athletes, but the team is just trying to enjoy it and go out there and try to get a win for the boys that are having their final games at, of course, Shaun Johnson Stadium."

Equally important will be closing out the year in encouraging fashion, providing some semblance of hope for the club and its faithful fanbase to cling to through the long off-season.

Tuivasa-Sheck was philosophical about the team's struggles, but he's confident the lessons learned through a campaign littered with tight defeats will serve them well for 2025.

"Watching from last year, I was excited," he said. "I was coming in as maybe one or two new signings, so they had the same core group of players.

"Next year it's going to be the same feel. There's going to be a handful of players come and go but most of us, the core in our system, all just have to make sure that we all just do better next year, because we fell off and we fell short too many games this year.

"We had so many opportunities to be in a different situation than we are today. But, I'm just excited to do better next year and see how we go."

Watch the full episode via the SENZ YouTube below: