For those of you who are yet to be enlightened, you can gain all the insight about the mainstream media that you need in their reporting about Roger Tuivasa-Sheck re-signing with Aotearoa Warriors. Tuivasa-Sheck has signed on for four more years and the headlines in Aotearoa zoned in on how enticing a move to rugby union was, how difficult it was for Tuivasa-Sheck to turn down a chance at an All Blacks jersey.

As if to say:

"But you wanted to play rugby right Roger? Like, there was a chance aye? 

Look everyone! Roger thought about playing rugby union".

As if to say that everything revolves around NZR. 

Welcome to Aotearoa folks.

I'd suggest that Tuivasa-Sheck was just as likely to join a Sydney club as he was to play union, if he was going to leave the Warriors. And instead of zoning in on the actual Warriors x RTS relationship that opens up an opportunity for a young Samoan-kiwi from South Auckland to be the long-term captain of Aotearoa Warrior, they gotta put their All Blacks tint on matters.

This is obviously a fantastic way to start the 2018 season, coming just after the first episode of that pre-season documentary. There ain't a whole lot of insight to be gained from the documentary, but for casual Warriors fans or band-wagoners - those of you who have/had no idea who Alex Corvo is - then this little documentary thingy is a nice introduction to the 2018 season for youz.

Now we know that Tuivasa-Sheck will be at the club for a long time and I can not under-state how awesome it is that we have a young man like Tuivasa-Sheck who has displayed the leadership abilities to impress Stephen Kearney and Cameron George. You only need to look at how Matt Moylan dealt with captaincy at a young age with Penrith Panthers to understand how tough the job is; while drama followed Moylan around and Moylan left to Cronulla Sharks, Tuivasa-Sheck will be a long-term captain and has got through the 'being chucked in the deep end' bit of captaincy.

From a business perspective, Tuivasa-Sheck is the undisputed the face of the Warriors. I believe this will be great for Shaun Johnson, along with the arrival of Blake Green, as Johnson won't have so much pressure on him moving forward. Ideally both these moves will allow Johnson to play his most electric footy and this will then result in mandatory viewing for fans at Mt Smart.

This also gives the Warriors a strong foundation moving forward and I'm liking the quality of this foundation across the club. Kearney is joined by George who got the Tuivasa-Sheck deal done and demanded compensation in exchange for Etene Nanai-Seturo, Jim Doyle is lurking in the shadows and Brian Smith is adding his experience to the footballing operation. Add in Stacey Jones, Jerome Ropati, Ricky Henry and Tony Iro in various coaching roles and Corvo leading the physical training; I have zero complaints.

Like, I actually have no complaints about that group. Everyone has a clarity in their job and they all bring a level of experience that hasn't been seen at the Warriors before. 

Add to that off-field foundation, a group of players consisting of; Tuivasa-Sheck, Shaun Johnson, Blake Green, Adam Blair, Tohu Harris, Gerard Beale, Peta Hiku, David Fusitu'a, Agnatius Paasi, Leivaha Pulu. That does not sound like a bad group of players to build a club around, to forge a fresh future in conjunction with the off-field staff. Sprinkle Simon Mannering and perhaps Issac Luke (both off-contract) and it's only enhanced. 

Obviously I'm excited and optimistic, even more so that Tuivasa-Sheck has signed and we won't have to deal with silly kiwi and Aussie media shit. Ultimately though, while everyone sat in the past and pondered that 'terrible Warriors culture', the Warriors actually got busy in making changes at Mt Smart. These aren't just changes that drum up hype for one season, they are the winds of change that cleared the way for new foundations have been laid. 

Signing Tuivasa-Sheck on a long-term deal is a wonderful reflection of that. Not only is he a top-tier fullback, if not a top-10 NRL player, Tuivasa-Sheck epitomises everything we want in the Warriors. If a young man, a young leader epitomises what we want the club to represent and he has foundations around him that support/enhance that, then you'd have to be a Negative Ned to not be excited for 2018 and beyond.

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Peace and love 27.