The inside story of superstar Roger Tuivasa-Sheck’s sensational move to Wakefield Trinity has been revealed by coach Daryl Powell.
The dual-code international will join Trinity from New Zealand Warriors next season on a two-year deal, as confirmed yesterday.
Tuivasa-Sheck played alongside Trinity forward Jazz Tevaga at the Warriors and for Samoa and Powell revealed the way the loose-forward has been welcomed to the club played a part in the 32-year-old’s decision to sign.
“He has the same agent as Jazz so we got news [he could be available],” Powell said.
“I think this comes from the way you deal with players; you get an ability for agents to tip you up on players that might be available.
“Roger became available and we were made aware of it so myself, Matt [Ellis, Trinity’s owner] and Millsy [Ste Mills, director of rugby] had a Zoom call with Roger and his agent.
“We said ‘this is us, this is what we do – we’d like you to come, this is what we’d like you to do to become part of our organisation’.
“Then Jazz had a chat with him so he has got first hand information about the way the club is.
“After that it became what does it look like from an offer perspective? He wanted to do it pretty quick, he was wanting to make a decision on his future and get it over the line then he could put it behind him and concentrate on what he’s doing at the Warriors this year.
“It happened pretty quick and I think it’s good it is done, dusted and out of the way. We can concentrate on what we’re doing and so can Roger.”
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Trinity had planned to announce the signing on Good Friday, but were forced to bring that forward after Tuivasa-Sheck confirmed it on his own YouTube channel.
“For us, it is an outstanding signing,” Powell said. “He has been an outstanding player all his career and he still is.
“To bring him to Super League is a great bit of business for Super League and for us, to have a player of his magnitude and ability and leadership qualities I think is huge.
“We want to do special things at Wakefield. For us to be a place players like Roger want to come to, we have done a lot of work on and off the field to make that happen.”
