Warriors captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck has detailed how the players are leading the charge in changing the club’s long-ridiculed culture.
Tuivasa-Sheck acknowledged past criticism of the club’s so-called "bro culture" before saying a loosening up of the club’s pre-season schedule had allowed senior players to take more ownership in making sure the playing group was prepared for the season.
“In past years we’ve been called the bro culture and things like that, a work-on for us is being confident to tip someone up that you’re not doing the right thing, you need to progress this way,” he said.
“You need to challenge each other by being tough on them and giving them that tough love, unfortunately it went missing for a couple of years.”
“That’s what Ice (Isaiah Papalii) is talking about, giving that tough love to one another and making them know it’s not personal, we all want to go to different heights this year, we got to change.”
After a disappointing season in 2019 where the Warriors managed just nine wins to finish 13 th , change was necessary.
“The biggest difference is that there is a lot of players pushing performance, a lot of us leaders have stepped up, a lot of us have gone away and taken players with us, sort of shown them this is how we want to play, this is our direction of where we want to go,” he said.
“I think those connections have been a lot better this year, everyone has been taking it personal, coming in extra early so I can get a bit of film done, that’s the kind of care we’ve been applying to this pre-season.”
Since his arrival at the club in 2016, Tuivasa-Sheck has been heavily relied on by the Warriors to produce consistently remarkable performances, but he said he didn’t feel any additional pressure at the club.
“I truly want to win a Premiership here and I believe we can, that for me is not pressure because I believe in it so much," he said.
"I put my all into it and work my butt off and I’m trying to learn at the same time, learn my leadership role, it didn’t work last year or the year before that, how are different ways that I can be better and be better as a leader.”
“That’s what you might have seen my trip away to the States, I might have needed to go away to find the right recipe.”
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