It was one of those 'where were you when....' moments. Learning that the New Zealand Warriors had signed Roger Tuivasa-Sheck got Warriors fans and casual fans (who are the majority) talking, hoping and anticipating. The Warriors had signed a young man who just this weekend broke the record for the most running metres in a season, a young man who only a few years earlier had said no to the Warriors and opted to move to Sydney and sign with the Roosters.

In my mind, signing Tuivasa-Sheck is akin to the Cleveland Cavaliers signing LeBron James. Partially because Tuivasa-Sheck is returning home to Auckland, but also when you watch Tuivasa-Sheck play for the Roosters, it's impossible to ignore the talent of the lad. This is a player who transitioned seamlessly from the Under 20s competition to the NRL and then from being a NRL winger to an NRL fullback where he now runs for 200 metres every game and sets up tries with a slick passing game. Not to mention having footwork that only Shaun Johnson can rival and even Johnson doesn't possess the power of Tuivasa-Sheck's footwork.

Tuivasa-Sheck is really, really freaking good at rugby league and arguably the best player in the NRL under the age of 25. I will always remember the feeling I felt and where I was when I heard that Tuivasa-Sheck would be coming home.

This was soon followed by news that Issac Luke would also be joining the Warriors. Shit, two top-5 players in their positions ... coming to the Warriors?

How was this possible? Who pulled the strings here? It's an easy game of connect the dots really as Jim Doyle's arrival at the Warriors earlier this year coincided with two rather epic signings. Doyle has knowledge of Aotearoa's finest rugby league players thanks to his time with the New Zealand Rugby League, giving him relationships and connections that he could leverage. Doyle came to the Warriors from NRL HQ, where he was the Chief Operating Officer which would have also offered him numerous connections to use for the Warriors advantage.

While Doyle pulled the strings, he did so with two players who looked like they could have been swayed. Not easily, but with the right offer they could be swayed. Luke had been linked to the Warriors in the past and had expressed a desire to return to Aotearoa at some stage. The Rabbitohs would also have been unwise to stand in Luke's way as his departure would ease salary cap pressures and allow the Rabbits to keep Cameron McInnes, a promising hooker being head-hunted by other NRL clubs while Luke was blocking his path to a starting spot.

One could also look at the reaction of Michael Maguire to Luke's departure and raise the idea of a somewhat frosty relationship between Luke and Maguire. Luke had come back from the Kiwis and was then dropped to the Rabbitohs' bench for a few games after the Kiwis' victory over the Kangaroos. It's purely speculation, but there were reports that Luke and Maguire had had some sort of disagreement over Luke's performance, which in all fairness probably happens all the time. But in the context of Luke who had one eye on returning to be closer to friends and family, it wouldn't have helped the situation.

We can also speculate on how the Tuivasa-Sheck deal went down. It came at the same time as Sam Tomkins' announcement that he would go back to England, which common sense suggests then led to the Warriors looking for a replacement. Alternatively, Doyle could have been low key scoping Tuivasa-Sheck, with the understanding that Tomkins would be given the flick, which sounds pretty dramatic. While there appeared to be a bunch of complex nuances in Luke's departure from the Rabbitohs, Tuivasa-Sheck was reportedly offered double what the Roosters were willing to pay him to join the Warriors.

Tuivasa-Sheck's contract is believed to be between $800,000 and $850,000 a season - double my contract to come home? Sign me up.

Both Tuivasa-Sheck and Luke offer so much to the Warriors. One of my pet-peeves with the Warriors has been the lack of running out of dummy half, whether it was Thomas Leuluai or Nathan Friend. A running dummy half helps out any NRL team immensely, just look at how much better the Rabbitohs look when Luke is on the field. Following a hit up from a Burgess brother or Greg Inglis, Luke scoots out of dummy half and makes 15 metres easily. He gets a quick play the ball and then another forward charges forward.

A running dummy half also gives the halves a lot more time and space to work their magic. At times this season, opposition teams have been able to load up on Shaun Johnson safe in the knowledge that he would get the ball more often than not. Defenders around the ruck didn't need to worry about the dummy half and the threat he posed, so they could just focus their energy solely on Johnson. The lack of a dummy half threat in combination with Johnson's emergence as a genuine star, meant that Johnson was always heavily marked.

It's a similar case with Tuivasa-Sheck as Tomkins isn't a strong runner of the footy. Usually, he delivers a nice pass, which is his strength, and if Tomkins does run, he can easily be driven back. Tuivasa-Sheck is the hardest bloke to tackle in the NRL which means that with him lurking outside Johnson, defenders will need to hedge their bets and keep an eye on both of them.

Tuivasa-Sheck makes such a ridiculous amount of metres because he takes more carries than any other fullback. For a fullback to take the amount of carries (Tuivasa-Sheck had 26 carries vs the Broncos, Tomkins had 4 vs the Cowboys), that Tuivasa-Sheck has, they have to take tough hit ups into a group of forwards.

A signature of the Warriors play, especially this season has been the work of Manu Vatuvei (most notably), Konrad Hurrell, Solomone Kata and Ken Maumalo to a degree, when the Warriors are coming out of their own half. These blokes all run the ball like forwards, albeit they are much faster and have eased the workload on their forwards by making plenty of metres in the first four hit ups of a set. Tuivasa-Sheck also runs like a forward, but his step allows him to get in-between defenders, which then gives him a quick play the ball.

There is every chance that the Warriors could rely entirely on their outside backs to take every hit up in a set ... and still make 50 plus metres.

I don't see any downside of Tuivasa-Sheck's signing, he's simply amazing, but Luke has a long history with the judiciary. This would have undoubtedly been some sort of factor in Doyle's decision to recruit Luke, but he knows that in Leuluai and young Nathaniel Roache (who had his contract upgraded) he can cover Luke should he be suspended. Leuluai won't let anyone down if he needs to step in for Luke and if Roache gets game time while Luke is suspended, it can only be a positive for Roache and his development.

Both Tuivasa-Sheck and Luke are nothing less than great signings for the Warriors and they are both players who have recently tasted NRL Premiership glory. They add to the Warriors in many ways and will help the Warriors on the field as well as off the field as well by being exciting players who fans will pay to watch. However, neither of them come cheap and the Warriors have had to clear the decks to accommodate these two while also ensuring that they keep their best players, giving Luke and Tuivasa-Sheck something to work with.