Departing former captain Roger Tuivasa has been singled out as ‘a person who will leave his mark on this club forever.’
The cruel knee injury Tuivasa-Sheck suffered in round 12 against the Dragons denied the club great the farewell his career deserved.
It left the 33-year-old sitting on 158 appearances for the club and 242 for his career as he supported his teammates in a premiership battle which ended in devastating fashion in Sunday night’s controversial 10-12 loss to the Knights at Eden Park.
After nine seasons in total with the Warriors, Tuivasa-Sheck (Warrior #203) will continue his rugby league career with Wakefield in the Super League in England.
He’s one of a number of NRL and NRLW players who are leaving the club, earning special mention from One New Zealand Warriors CEO Cameron George as he reflected on a season of epic proportions.
“There’s not many people – if any – like him in the NRL,” said George.
“He is just a special, special person. His family, Ash and the kids have always been a big part of this club.
“The one thing about Roger is that he always had the intention right. He wanted to be here to win, to win this premiership. Sure as hell if he was still out on the field as late as last weekend I’m sure we’d be marching a lot closer to the grand final.
“He deserves everything he gets. He works hard. His integrity and professionalism is first-class. And he’s a guy I don’t think any fan in the stand has ever shaken their head saying he’s not trying.
“He’s one person who will leave a mark on this club forever and we thank him for that.”
Co-captain Mitchell Barnett (Warrior #275) is also ‘a very special human’ who has finished up after four influential seasons at Go Media Stadium.
“Barney is generational. He’s really improved our club on and off the field,” said George.
“He’s just a terrific person. A lot of people are going to miss him. You probably won’t know what you had until he leaves, the full depth of it. He’s moving on for personal reasons and we support him with that. We love him and his family and he’ll always be a Warrior.
“It’s sad (seeing players departing). There are a few from our NRLW squad leaving this year who have contributed so much to the year. I know it wasn’t the best season we’d hope for but every player wore the jumper with pride and credibility.
“They tried hard and that’s all we ask. They’ll move on to other opportunities and that’s the nature of the game. We thank them and their families dearly.”
George said there was so much to admire from a season which saw the One New Zealand Warriors capture hearts and minds like never before.
“It's disappointing we're not pushing on to the next step in this finals process but at the same time we're really proud about where the club's at, where it has come from, to what we're building, to where we've landed again this year,” he said.
"The experience of getting almost 50,000 people to Eden Park to set the record for the most attended rugby league match of all time in New Zealand … three years ago you wouldn't have thought about filling up Go Smart Stadium let alone going to Eden Park and getting those numbers.
"The carnival-like atmosphere to the whole day was simply amazing.
"I caught the bus with the team to the ground and every street we went down people were converging onto the road, cheering on the boys. Then when we got to the stadium it was out of this world.
"It was disappointing around the behaviour of some people post the game towards the referee and the officials. Regardless of whether we agree with what happened that's taking it too far. As a footy club we've never demonstrated that before and it's really disappointing but there are so many great people and kids who come to our games.
“We don't want their experience to be marred by a few idiots here and there. I get the frustrations but it's not the right way to handle it and we apologise to the game, to the NRL about that.
“The community that we’ve built up here, the fact the whole nation feels connected to the club means so much to us, that we can have that positive impact on people’s lives, we can inspire young kids and we can help people be better and be the best version of themselves.
“You don’t have to be a footy player but people can get something out of our club that inspires them to be great.
‘I couldn’t be any prouder of the staff and the players for really inspiring the country.”
