BY CURTIS WOODWARD

@woodward_curtis

Kiwi legend Roger Tuivasa-Sheck is reportedly set to switch codes at the end of the 2021 season to give himself a chance of representing the All Blacks at the 2023 Rugby Union World Cup.

The Warriors skipper has one year to run on his contract and will see out the year with the Auckland club – if everything goes well.

According to Michael Carayannis’ story in The Daily Telegraph, club officials are open to him leaving early but that isn’t really Tuivasa-Sheck’s style is it?

One person on Twitter said the NRL needed to do “everything in their power” to keep the superstar fullback in the game.

But do they really?

RTS has given rugby league so much since debuting for the Sydney Roosters way back in 2012.

He’s won premierships, a Dally M, Golden Boot and almost single-handedly carried the Warriors on his back since joining them five years ago.

This isn’t a bloke ducking out in the middle of the night and breaking a contract or promising to never play for another NRL side if he does come back in the future.

There’s just no bad blood.

Your writer’s first reaction was, ‘Good on him. We’ll find another RTS’.

We should be grateful we have had him for so long to begin with. After all, he is an All Blacks schoolboy and could have very easily picked union over league prior to coming across to play with the Chooks.

Let’s also not forget what he and his Warriors teammates gave up during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic last year and the fact they are back in Australia already preparing for the new season.

Tuivasa-Sheck didn’t get to see or touch his wife or kids for five months.

We in rugby league can be jilted lovers but always find a way to forgive and forget.

So many others have done it the wrong way in the past.

Something says Tuivasa-Sheck won’t be in that boat when the dust settles.

It isn’t very often you find a poster boy for the game that backs it up by being an even better person and universally loved.

At 27, RTS still has time on his side.

The boy from Otahuhu College deserves to challenge himself in the other code he loves and we all should wish him the best.

They don’t get much classier, on or off the field, as Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.

We wish you luck, RTS.

Not that you’ll need it.

BY CURTIS WOODWARD

@woodward_curtis