Captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck takes some of the best form of his career into his 50th appearance for the Vodafone Warriors in Sunday’s vital 23rd-round NRL encounter with the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (2.00pm kick-off local time; 4.00pm NZT).
The 25-year-old fullback leads an unchanged side in the quest for a third straight victory following wins over St George Illawarra (18-12) and Newcastle (20-4).
He ran a staggering 338 metres against the Knights last Friday night, following on from 239 against the Dragons, 160 against Gold Coast and 229 against the Storm. His total is a club record topping two 300-metre plus efforts by former Vodafone Warriors captain Steve Price in 2007.
Tuivasa-Sheck’s effort last week is a mere one metre less than his career best (339 against Cronulla in 2015) while he also made 330 and 303 in two other games that same season. The NRL record is Justin Hodges’ 346 in 2006.
In 19 matches this season Tuivasa-Sheck has totalled almost 3500 metres averaging more than 183 a game and has made a total of 100 tackle breaks.
On a night when the Vodafone Warriors made more than 2000 metres overall, Tuivasa-Sheck combined with the rest of the back five for total of almost 900 metres.
On Sunday he’ll lead the Vodafone Warriors in search of their 14th win of the season to match their best record in the last 15 years (they had 14 regular season wins in 2011 and 2010 while the best returns in the club’s history have been 17 wins in 2002 and 15 in 2003).
The Canterbury-Bankstown contest also gives the Vodafone Warriors the opportunity to extend their club record for away wins in one season to nine.
The first four players named on the interchange also remains unchanged with utility Jazz Tevaga joined by second rower Leivaha Pulu, prop Bunty Afoa and utility back Peta Hiku.
The only clash of the season against the Bulldogs will be just the second against the club in Sydney since 2010.
The Vodafone Warriors sit seventh on the ladder on 28 points with a 13-8 record while the Bulldogs are 14th on 14 points, the same total as Parramatta in 15th and the North Queensland Cowboys in 16th.
In 36 meetings, the Vodafone Warriors have 14 wins and the Bulldogs 20 with two draws.
The Vodafone Warriors have won two of the last three contests but the Bulldogs have a 6-4 edge in the last 10 encounters and a 10-5 advantage (with two draws) in clashes at home.
VODAFONE WARRIORS v CANTERBURY-BANKSTOWN BULLDOGS
2.00pm, Sunday, August 19, 2018
ANZ Stadium, Sydney
VODAFONE WARRIORS
1 ROGER TUIVASA-SHECK (c)
2 DAVID FUSITU’A
3 GERARD BEALE
4 SOLOMONE KATA
5 KEN MAUMALO
6 BLAKE GREEN
7 SHAUN JOHNSON
8 JAMES GAVET
9 ISSAC LUKE
10 AGNATIUS PAASI
11 ISAIAH PAPALI’I
12 ADAM BLAIR
13 SIMON MANNERING
Interchange:
14 JAZZ TEVAGA
15 LEIVAHA PULU
16 BUNTY AFOA
17 PETA HIKU
18 JOSEPH VUNA
20 ANTHONY GELLING
21 CHRIS SATAE
22 KARL LAWTON
HEAD COACH | STEPHEN KEARNEY
