Opinion: It was telling that the Blues finally rolled out their star signing in a large, Alexandra Park conference room setting rather than the usual pitch side standup.
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck: "I'm lucky I've got good people around me." Photo: © Photosport Ltd 2022
Red light rules aside, this was a big deal for them as they'd kept the media and public waiting all summer. Then, with the stride of a man who knows full well he's the talk of the town, in came Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.
The latest addition to an increasingly stacked Blues set up is no stranger to answering questions, as he had been carrying the Warriors and their utterly unrealistic expectations for the last five and a half seasons.
"I'm a new player in a new environment," he responded to being asked how he felt about being more or less a senior Super Rugby player without having had a game yet. After all, it's likely some of his younger teammates hold him in a fair degree of awe given that they would have been kids when he won a premiership with the Roosters and Dally M Winger of the Year.
"The boys are just seeing me for the first time. I'm part of the team so the best way for me to do that is to connect and build those relationships off the field, just be a genuine person so on the field we can go into battle together."
If it sounds like the right answer, it's because Tuivasa-Sheck is good at giving them. With his South Auckland accent he was at ease in front of a media contingent around four times bigger than usual, rolling his r's and striking a perfect mix of humility and confidence. This was a man who has been the star of the show ever since he was a kid, in fact he's already worn the Blues jersey as a schoolboy rep.
"I'm lucky I've got good people around me. Of course I want to come in and start ticking the boxes right from the start, but I have to be happy with the process and build as we go. When it comes to games it's a whole new page."
Coach Leon MacDonald has confirmed that Tuivasa-Sheck will play in the midfield, which means a significant step up from his league playing weight.
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck with Blues coach Leon MacDonald at the press conference. Photo: © Photosport Ltd 2022
"With league and union there's a lot of different bodies. There's some little quick cheetahs, some hippopotamuses, so you gotta try and adapt to those shapes. As a midfielder I'm trying to add a bit more weight, move to around 98-99 kgs."
Tuivasa-Sheck is arguably an even bigger get for the Blues than when they sensationally snatched Beauden Barrett from the Hurricanes two years ago. Barrett, the two-time World Player of the Year, has shown glimpses of his best for his new team but spent last season in Japan and is still yet to have solid game time in the number 10 jersey. In comparison, the main reason everyone will be tuning in will be to see how quickly Tuivasa-Sheck can transition to rugby union after a hiatus that stretches back to when he was at Otahuhu College.
Already, there has been a ton of expectation put on him, even going so far as to project him as the answer to an All Black midfield puzzle that's somehow remained unsolved since Ma'a Nonu and Conrad Smith retired. That's pretty big talk given that he hasn't even stepped on the field yet, hence his talk of "ticking the boxes".
"It's such a different level. To me a ruck looks like a mess, but there's some key things the boys are trying to do in there. Those are the things I'm trying to learn…there's some good boys around I can follow, a few boys a lot younger than me that I can go to.
"It's hard to bring back the sort of skills I had in high school to this level."
His first proper game should be, in an ironic twist, at his former home ground of Mt Smart Stadium. The rejigged Super Rugby draw has seen the Blues draw Moana Pasifika in a fitting opening to the competition, so Tuivasa-Sheck will probably be counted on by his new teammates to show them around the Penrose stadium.
Tuivasa-Sheck has made one transition very smoothly though: to that of a Warriors supporter. When asked about how they'd go this season, his answer was a very familiar one (although probably not with the same amount of tongue in cheek as most others).
"Still backing them to go all the way. This is their year."
